Kettle corn in bulk is a recipe repeated, not a recipe scaled up: a kettle pops the same few pounds every few minutes all day, so the job is to weigh each pop the same, kernels, sugar, oil and salt, and keep the kettle at temperature. Written as percentages, the recipe gives the weights for any kettle. Done this way, a kettle corn stand that popped a pound on the stove makes about 200 bags at a fair, and the cost of a bag falls from $3.35 to $0.98. Below is the recipe at three sizes, the steps, the popping loss, what a bag costs at each size, and a free scaling calculator.
The short version
- Write kernels, sugar, oil and salt as percentages.
- Weigh each pop to the kettle's size: same weight, same pop.
- Sugar goes in with the kernels, once the oil is hot.
- Dump the moment the popping slows, then sift out the kernels.
- About 12% of the weight is lost: cost the bag from what comes out.
- Bag it cool, or the sugar softens.
- TaroStack keeps the recipe by weight, takes each batch's ingredients off stock and checks its yield. More below.
The recipe, by percentage
Prairie Pop Kettle Corn, the made-up kettle corn stand in Wichita, Kansas, I use in these examples, popped on a stove before buying a big kettle for fairs. The recipe, weighed:
| Ingredient | % of the mix | Kitchen batch, 1 lb | One batch, 3.6 lb | The run, 85 lb | Cost a lb, bought in bulk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Popcorn kernels, mushroom or butterfly | 55% | 0.55 lb | 1.98 lb | 46.8 lb | $0.80 |
| Sugar | 25% | 0.25 lb | 0.90 lb | 21.2 lb | $0.60 |
| Coconut or canola oil | 18% | 0.18 lb | 0.65 lb | 15.3 lb | $1.40 |
| Popcorn salt | 2% | 0.02 lb | 0.07 lb | 1.70 lb | $0.40 |
| The whole mix | 100% | 1 lb | 3.6 lb | 85 lb |
The 85 pounds cost $72.25 in ingredients, the kernels nearly half of it. Each pop is 3.6 pounds, so a fair day is about two dozen pops. Pricing a bag is in how to price popcorn.
The steps, at 85 pounds
- Weigh the pops ahead. Kernels and sugar measured into cups or bags by weight for each pop before the gates open.
- Heat the oil. In the kettle, to temperature; a few test kernels pop when it's ready.
- Kernels and sugar together. Stirred constantly so the sugar coats without burning.
- Dump when it slows. The moment the popping slows, into the sifting bin; a few seconds late and the sugar scorches.
- Salt and sift. Salted, tossed, and the unpopped kernels sifted out.
- Cool and bag. Spread to cool, then bagged by weight, 6 ounces a bag.
- Label with a lot code. Bags for shops carry the day's lot and date; bags sold hot from the stand don't need one.
The making takes about 5 hours of a fair day, popping and bagging between customers.
What a bag costs at each size
| Per bag | Kitchen batch, 1 lb | Bulk run, 85 lb |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | $0.97 (grocery prices) | $0.36 (bought in bulk) |
| Packaging | $0.25 | $0.12 |
| Labor at $20 an hour | $2.13 (6.4 min a bag) | $0.50 (1.5 min a bag) |
| Cost of a bag | $3.35 | $0.98 |
Kernels by the 50-pound bag and oil by the 35-pound jug cut the ingredients by more than half, and the labor falls from 6.4 minutes a bag to about 1.5. The booth fee isn't in this cost; it's spread over the bags sold, in popcorn profit margin.
Making it at the fair
Popping at a fair or a market means a temporary food permit from the local health department, and often a fire extinguisher and a propane check; the permit is in temporary food permit. Bags for shops are a packaged food, with the ingredients, net weight and your name and address on the label.
Get the calculator
Download the kettle corn scaling calculator. Two sheets: scale the recipe, where you type each ingredient's percentage and cost a pound and the raw mix you want, and each ingredient's weight for the run fills in, with the pops, what comes out after the popping loss, the bags it fills and the cost of each bag; and weigh the loss, where what went in and came out over a few batches gives your average popping loss. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Two fairs a weekend, kernels from two bags opened on different days, and a shop that wants sealed bags. A sheet can say how much sugar a weekend needs, but not how many kernels are left after Saturday, or whether the popping loss crept up with the new kernels.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the recipe by weight, takes each batch's ingredients off stock and checks its yield.
The recipe in the units you use. A recipe holds each ingredient by weight, with kernels bought by the 50-pound bag and used by the pound, and the cost of every bag comes from what you paid. "What could I make right now" says how many runs the kernels, sugar and oil on the shelf allow.
Each run a batch. A run takes its ingredients off stock, records the lots of kernels and oil it used, and gets a lot of its own for the bags, with how much came out good, how much was rejected and the labor minutes.
Yield checked from history. From your own batch history, TaroStack says whether a recipe yields what it claims and which ingredient's quantity is off, so a popping loss that creeps up shows in the numbers. A bag of kernels that went stale is an adjustment with its reason, spoiled, and shows in the waste report.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients for Saturday's run | Multiply, then check the shelf | What could I make right now |
| Which kernels went into a run | Not written down | Lots recorded on the batch |
| The real popping loss | Weighed now and then | Good and rejected on every batch |
| Stale kernels | Thrown out, forgotten | Adjustment with a reason |
Recipes, batches, lots and yield are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.