Butterkist is a brand of popcorn owned by

KP Snacks KP Snacks is a British producer of branded and own-label maize-, potato-, and nut-based snacks, "Choc Dips" and nuts. The ''KP'' stands for “Kenyon Produce”. The company is based in Slough, England, UK. History The company was founded in ...

. It is the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's best-selling brand of popcorn, with around 40% of the £90 million market.The Interview - Butterkist popcorn - a great taste of Americana, made in Great Britain
The Grocery Trader - May 2006

History

In 1914, Fred Hoke and James Holcomb began to sell popcorn machines in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

under the brand of Butter-Kist. As their business developed, vendors began buying popcorn machines and the brand began to spread.Butterkist history
/ref> In 1938 Butter-Kist machines made their way to the UK via an unknown route, developing the brand as in the United States through sales to

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

audiences. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the brand developed quickly, thanks to the many

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

personnel stationed in the UK ready for the invasion of Europe. After the Second World War, Craven Keiller developed a factory in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

to sell Butterkist branded popcorn direct to cinema chains. As many items were rationed in the UK post the Second World War, but the basic ingredients of Butterkist were not, the brand developed into the UK's lead selling popcorn brand. The sales of the brand then followed the development and decline in cinema audiences, so that after the boom of the 1950s and 1980s, by 1998 sales were on another downturn and Craven Keiller sold the brand to Cadbury Trebor Bassett, which in 2000 merged the brand into its Monkhill Confectionery subsidiary and moved production to

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. As part of its development strategy selling off non-core brands, from April 2006

Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars ...

put Monkhill into a group of non-core brands it would review putting up for sale, and from June 2007 appointed investment bankers

Investec Investec is an Anglo-South African international banking and wealth management group. It provides a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Investec is dual-listed on the London S ...

to review the sale of Monkhill Confectionery, and its best selling brand Butterkist. Butterkist, along with other Monkhill brands, was sold to

Tangerine Confectionery Valeo Confectionery formerly known as Tangerine Confectionery and Toms Confectionery is a British confectionery company with its headquarters in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Since 2006, it had grown through acquisitions into one of the largest i ...

in February 2008. The Butterkist brand was sold once again on 17 July 2017 to

Marketing

After being dropped by various cinema brands in the 1990s, the brand was realigned to the growing home cinema market, with a 350g family sized tub launched with a link to family cinema review sit
popcorn.co.uk
in 2000 in a program run by advertising agency Market Tiers 4DC,marketingmonitor: butterkist case study
Marketing Monitor - 12 June 2000 before the brand was completely relaunched in 2005, using a heart logo to (quote) "symbolise Britain's love of the Butterkist brand." Having for many years used the chant logo "Butterkist, Butterkist, Ra ra ra!" the brand is currently marketed under a

comedic Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

slant of "Butterkist: the fun's never done..."Butterkist Toffee Popcorn
/ref> and tying up with cartoon family

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

from mid-2006. Presently, approximately 5,000 tonnes of Butterkist are produced each year.About our brands: Butterkist
Cadbury Schweppes The red Butterkist bag is sold exclusively in the UK, and is available to buy in cinemas as well as supermarkets and independent retailers. The Butterkist range includes 25g, 50g, 100g, and 200g (the most popular item in the range), individual bags, a 350g plastic tub, and a 6 x 30g multipack for the toffee variant, and 120g bags and 250g tubs for the Cinema sweet and 80g Salted bag. Butterkist Toffee popcorn is suitable for

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

s (but not

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

s), while Butterkist Cinema sweet popcorn and Salted popcorn is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans. Butterkist is also available as take home, microwave packs in Salted, sweet and butter variants. According to The Grocer Magazine, there were plans for a chocolate popcorn to be launched sometime in September 2010.

References

External links

ButterkistMore About Butterkist
{{Foods featuring butter British confectionery Popcorn brands Cadbury-Schweppes brands Foods featuring butter

History

Marketing

See also

References

External links