Popcorn U

Pop Daddy Snacks co-founder Mark Sarafa was recently featured in University of Michigan’s Fall Alum Magazine. The family-run company is doing a booming business, and the article states it is because they know how to pivot.

Sarafa, Class of ’89, learned the retail business early by stocking shelves in his father’s store before graduating from UM Dearborn with a degree in finance. After that, he worked four years at Coca-Cola, nine years at Frito-Lay, and 12 years at Absopure Water before going into business for himself with the family’s favorite snack food.

“We were probably popping four or five bags for my family of four just about every night,” Sarafa says. “Then I started reading articles about how bad microwave popcorn was for you, and we essentially banned it from the house. We bought a bigger popper, started using healthier oils, and bought local red kernel corn (from Burr Oaks Farm in Ann Arbor) that we still use today.”

Pop Daddy now has 8 popcorn flavors, 13 pretzel varieties, and five types of kettle-cooked potato shelves lining the shelves of thousands of retailers in the U.S. and five other countries.