Hawaiian Popcorn is a privately-owned, family company that specializes in creating truly magical and explosively great-tasting popcorn products.

Hawaiian Popcorn founder, Gary Spates, began selling our irresistibly sweet and savory Kettle Corn at California street fairs and festivals in 1996.By 1999, both consumers and retailers recognized the distinct taste benefits of Hawaiian Popcorn — it was then professionally packaged and marketed to major California retailers and we continue to grow and gain traction with our authentic kettle corn. 

Hawaiian Popcorn began in San Jacinto, California and is now located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Our small factory is located in Honolulu, where we personally package and seal our kettle corn — again reinforcing our authenticity and unique approach.  In 2014 we will be bringing our products back to California and igniting our sales across the country.

Our Vision

The Hawaiian Popcorn brand will be the ready-to-eat kettle and seasoned popcorn of choice for all retail and food service consumers because each packaged product is fresher, tastier, and more satisfying than all other RTE (ready-to-eat) popcorns on the market. Our founder, Gary Spates, will continue to create new and innovative popcorn flavors and snack pairings in order to satisfy changing consumer tastes, and will maintain our high level of personal customer service and unique marketing promotions in order to ensure the company’s long-term growth potential. 

Moving Forward

Hawaiian Popcorn Snack Shack will be a new innovative store front concept that will bring delicious products to major tourist locations located in Hawaii. This will bring the enticing aroma and taste of Hawaiian Popcorn directly you! It will be cooked in-store and served fresh, making it the most effective and delicious way to sell our unique products — take our street fair success as proof!

Hawaiian Popcorn’s flagship brand of Kettle Corn has a “Deliciously Different Taste.” Unlike other Ready-to-Eat (RTE) kettle corns, HP’s product is wet popped and is made with only the finest natural ingredients. We never use artificial dyes, colors or preservatives!

With 20 Kettle Corn companies as direct competitors, we differentiate ourselves through innovative packaging, products and creatively marketing our “BRAND”.

We manufacture in real authentic kettles, which gives our products the unique taste and texture that stands out from the competition.(The majority of the industry air-pops and coats their popcorn products.)

We have registered trademarks for Hawaiian Popcorn and the slogan “We’re Poppin’ in Paradise!”

We have acquired national accounts Costco, Sam’s Club, CVS Caremark, Kmart and Cost Plus World Market in the last two years. The ability to manufacture and distribute in the mainland U.S. will open up our potential to gain more customers.

We have 3 sizes of our primary product Hawaiian Popcorn gourmet kettle corn that is currently thriving in the market place. 

We also have Chocolate Drizzle which is a completed product that is just waiting for the correct manufacturing facility to produce and distribute.

Gary Spates, Founder + President. Gary has an extensive background as a general contractor for over 30+ years.

Bert Fenenga, CEO + CPA. Bert has served as Chief Financial Officer of several companies including Eagle Creek, Inc. and Quiksilver, Inc. over his 25+ years as a CPA.

Garrett Spates, COO. Garrett started working for his father, Gary, when the company was formed. He is in charge of driving sourcing and production of the company’s products.

Leigh Pottier, National Sales Representative. Leigh has over 20 years of experience as the manager of a large retail supermarket chain.

Ryan Spates, Package Designs.