Pre-popped popcorn has flooded the market for more than a decade with the rise of well-known brands like Skinnypop and Boomchickapop, but a relatively new popcorn disruptor says it’s time for innovation in microwaveable popcorn.
That potential shakeup came closer to reality in March with Walmart’s decision to sell Opopop in its stores across the US.
The Colorado-based company launched in 2018 and largely has focused on direct-to-consumer and online sales, using its proprietary process that flavors the kernels prior to popping.
The company also is innovating with new flavor profiles like Maui Heat, Salty Caramel and Cinnalicious.
Opopop’s move into Walmart snacking aisles has the company experimenting to adapt to a retail environment, according to Opopop CEO Alex Medeiros.
“Traditional microwave popcorn really hasn’t seen much innovation in decades,” he said. “We think the newness that consumers want is in the product itself, the experience itself. It needs to go premium and elevated like a lot of other categories have gone.”
Walmart comes calling
Opopop got its first big retail launch in Spring 2025 through select US Target locations.
Distribution at Target piqued the interest of the retail giant’s biggest competitor, Walmart, according to Medeiros.
“Walmart saw us at a few hundred stores at Target and said, ‘We’re going to do a reset … and we want to jazz up the category,’” Medeiros explained.
The partnership with Walmart kicked off a reformatting of Opopop’s portfolio to offer single-use versions of the signature Opopop kits the company sells online, he said. The direct-to-consumer kit includes a reusable BPA- and PFAS-free bowl and has a higher price point than the new single-use bags, according to the company.
“Not a lot of retailers may have been ready for that, so we adapted that format to one that consumers are already familiar with in a retail environment,” he said. “That’s why we came up with the traditional microwave bag that doesn’t require you to buy the bowl.”
Opopop also reformulated the product to include in-packaging flavoring in addition to the pre-flavored kernels, Medeiros said. Typical microwave popcorn is flavored with in-package flavoring only that mixes with the popcorn after it is popped.
Ecommerce beginnings
Despite the formatting reset, Opopop continues to promote its premier attributes, including using non-GMO kernels and no added sugar.
The company still uses palm oil in its product, but that could change at some point as Opopop aims for further retail penetration in health and wellness grocery outlets.
“We’re continuing to work on healthier oils as we look outward for ways to make the product more exciting for natural consumers,” he said. “We’re not in natural today, but I see a world where we can be there very soon.”
Consistency and intensity matter
As Opopop innovates to move into new markets, it remains focused on its top two points of differentiation: intensity of flavors and consistency.
Medeiros said the company’s bold flavors and proprietary kernel-flavoring method give Opopop advantages over competitors.
“One of the advantages of having flavor-wrapped kernels is that every kernel of popcorn will capture that flavor and with the level of intensity that we designed it to be,” he said. “It’s an elevated experience because customers feel like they are consuming something special.”
The company’s online presence better lends itself to telling the story of its flavoring method, a distinct advantage that presents a new challenge for Opopop’s retail expansion.
“We’re experimenting with what’s the right way to communicate it to customers in a retail setting,” Medeiros said.
Retail experimentation
In addition to its new single-use retail product lineup and reformulation with additional flavoring in microwaveable bags, Opopop is taking a closer look at its sweeter formats.
“We use sucralose in our sweet products,” Medeiros noted, adding the company is considering alternative sweeteners like monk fruit and stevia that have a better profile in health and wellness snacks.
“We’re working on some alternatives to see if we can get that into more retail channels,” he said.
Opopop also is looking for ways to expand its full-sized kits into more retail outlets, which would demand a higher price point, starting at $44.99 for seven bags of flavor-wrapped popcorn and the microwave popper.
“We need to figure out what’s the right way to offer that experience at retail before we move forward with it. So in the meantime, we continue to focus very much on driving the direct-to-consumer, which is massively important for us,” Medeiros said.
