Kettle corn business sweetens life for local family

The owner/operators of Grandma D’s Kettle Corn, Dennis and Diane Sommers of Waseca, willingly share the ingredients to their popular treat: Sugar. Salt. Popcorn–a little of the first two, a lot of the other.

 

But when it comes to details like how long it should be cooked or how to tell when it’s done, things get a little hazier. One learns the length of time it takes for a sufficient percentage of the kernels to be popped depends on the humidity, the temperature of the cooker, and the moisture levels in the popcorn. The answer there, it seems, is “You just kind of have to know. It’s different amounts of time on different days.

 

“You watch it popping and you can tell.”

 

The “watching” is apparently essential. “You have to catch it at just the right stage,” Dennis says of his technique. “When it’s just popping, that’s when you put the sugar in. Too early or too late, it changes the flavor.”

 

In the end, it seems, the only way to get your hands on some kettle corn as good as Grandma D’s may be to find Grandma D’s and buy some. Perhaps it will be no surprise that there is an avid group of followers who do exactly that.

 

“We have people contact us and ask where we’re going to be setting up,” relates Dennis. “They stock up and keep it for the future.”

 

He explains that, as counter to expectation as it might sound, kettle corn stores well in the freezer. “You can keep it for months,” he shares.

 

The family’s association with kettle corn began before twin sisters Diane and Debbie (now Walden) were born. Their great-grandmother “Linda Dolly” made the treat on her kitchen stove throughout their childhood. It was with that heartwarming memory in mind that the business was named.

 

Decades later in the 1990s, Dennis, Diane, Debbie and her husband Dan came upon the idea of selling kettle corn as a way to help pay for their adult children’s college educations. As they developed their plans, they spoke with one vendor who was forthcoming with advice and assistance. When they discovered the purchase price of the necessary machine would be as high as $9,000, Dennis remembers deciding he could make the stainless steel popper himself, since he knew how to weld and could count on assistance from some of his fellow employees at Winegar’s.

 

Without that money-saving factor, he speculates, the business may not have even gotten its start.

 

With the machine made, he remembers he, Dan, and family friend and neighbor Rodney Meyer set the popper up in a small building and began to experiment. “It took lots of popping and testing the recipe to get the perfect taste of sweet and salty,” he recalls. 

 

The business made its debut at the 1999 Waseca County Fair, and went on to offer its product at various other events in the region. Dennis remembers business was sometimes particularly brisk at “Rockin’ in the Quarry,” a series of music events at the Vetter Stone Amphitheater in Mankato. It was there, he recalls, that he realized he could produce a batch of kettle corn roughly every eight minutes: a “batch” is about eight large bags, each well over 2 feet long.

 

The booth was manned by Dennis, Diane, Debbie, and their young adult children. These days, it is mostly Dennis and Diane who take the time to set up shop. They have reduced their circuit to mostly the Waseca County Fair, the spring and fall “Rustic Mama’s” events in Owatonna, and an occasional appearance at the Waseca farmers market.

 

Dennis mentions it takes about an hour to set up and an hour to close down the booth. He declares the best part of the job is customer interaction, which is also a bit of an art.

 

“The most important thing,” he comments lightheartedly, “is that the customer is king.” Polite interactions, he clarifies, are only the beginning. 

 

When the business was young, Dennis remembers giving away as much as a fourth of his product as samples. He still fields questions from people not acquainted with kettle corn, clarifying that it is more than buttered popcorn, but not caramel corn.

 

He tells of many lessons learned over time, including that popcorn kernels can be remarkably specialized. Some, he shares, open in a sort of mushroom shape. “We like the ones that open all the way around,” he says. 

 

He remembers a time at New Richland’s Farm and City Days when, during setup, a plug was accidentally dislodged before the LP nozzle was connected to the cooker. “It sounded like a jet engine taking off,” he remembers. “People really scattered when they heard it.”

 

And one small but interesting detail he enjoys as time goes on is the stirring stick used inside the cooking kettle. “It has to be fine-fibered hardwood maple,” he shares. “As you use it over time, it gradually wears away. The way the maple breaks down, it’s safe for people to eat the tiny fragments that come in their popcorn–they don’t even know they’re there.

 

“But over time, our stick gets very gradually shorter and shorter.” Dennis says he knows one vendor whose stirring stick, once 4.5 feet long, had been worn down to 3 feet in length.

 

“The business has served us well,” he summarizes. “It’s work, but it’s also a lot of fun. And now that our kids don’t need the money for college any more, now Diane and I can use the money any way we want.”

 

Grandma D’s does plan to be at the Don Eustice memorial event set for Sept. 5 at the county fairgrounds. “We like to give back to the community,” mentions Dennis. “We’re glad to help the family out by being part of what they’re doing.”