Karmelkorn was an American

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

retailer. It was founded in 1928 in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in the state, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger. Casper is nic ...

, by Mr. and Mrs. William O'Sullivan. The O'Sullivans patented their candy-coated popcorn and trademarked the product's name and logo in 1929. Initially, they licensed the product to existing confectioneries before creating a chain of franchised Karmelkorn stores. Within four years, the O'Sullivans had 535 stores licensed to sell its product in North America including candy stores and peanut / popcorn stands. The original slogan of the product was "Delicious Karmelkorn: The Flavor That Can Not be Copied." Licensed Karmelkorn merchants sold popcorn,

caramel corn Caramel corn or caramel popcorn (toffee popcorn in the UK) is a confection made of popcorn coated with a sugar or molasses based caramel candy shell that is normally less than 1mm thick. Typically a sugar solution or syrup is made and heated until ...

, and candied popcorn balls out of downtown storefronts and in tourist areas by beaches and resorts in its first generation. But by the 1960s under new owners, it began operating as Karmelkorn Shoppes, Incorporated. The chain dropped its licensing program and, instead, franchised Karemelkorn Shoppe storefronts which were popular in suburban strip shopping centers and shopping malls. Franchise Growth Corporation in Rock Island, Illinois, acquired Karmelkorn Shoppes Inc. in 1969. By 1982, the chain had 270 stand-alone Karemelkorn shops in 43 states. In 1986,

Dairy Queen Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc. (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 1998) which also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and G ...

's parent company IDQ (now part of

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...

) purchased Karmelkorn Shoppes, Inc. Dairy Queen began co-branding Karmelkorn with the Dairy Queen and

Orange Julius Orange Julius is an American chain of fruit drink beverage stores. It has been in business since the late 1920s and is noted for a particular drink, also called an Orange Julius. The beverage is a mixture of ice, orange juice, sweetener, milk, p ...

brands. With the decline of shopping malls and the expiration of Karmelkorn leases in the malls, the chain eroded. By 2019, there were just six remaining Karmelkorn locations. In May of 2019, Dairy Queen International dropped support for its final six locations though retaining the Karmelkorn name and trademark."Dairy Queen Has Ended Support for the Last Six Karmelkorn Locations." 25 May 2019. accessed online at https://www.reddit.com/r/deadmalls/comments/bsw30j/dairy_queen_has_ended_support_for_the_last_six/ The brand is presently inactive.

References

Berkshire Hathaway Restaurants established in 1929 Fast-food franchises Defunct food and drink companies of the United States Popcorn brands 1929 establishments in Wyoming {{food-company-stub

See also

References