Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn expands with new shipping facility in Old Fort, NC
Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn, the Asheville-based gourmet popcorn maker specializing in natural, non-GMO popcorn in dozens of flavors, has announced the addition of a new shipping and fulfillment facility in Old Fort, NC. The new facility, which began operations at the beginning of March, will allow Poppy to expand kitchen and production space at their existing Black Mountain facility by 2500 square ft. As a result, the gourmet popcorn maker will boost production capacity by more than 25 percent, increasing the company’s ability to fulfill wholesale orders for retailers throughout North America.
When Ginger Frank founded Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn in 2014, Western North Carolina’s job market was front and center for her. “I started Poppy so that I could have a job that gave me more time with my kids. As the company grew, I realized that it’s hard for lots of people to find a good job in this area,” says Frank. “It was a very deliberate decision to keep our production local. When we built our facility in Black Mountain, we quickly learned that the workforce there is a great resource—people are really committed to their jobs and to this area. We’ve also found that as business is growing in these smaller surrounding towns, the welcome from the locals is so heartwarming. They're genuinely glad we're there, and that small town feeling just can't be ignored.”