Nothing Stops the Pop

A Q&A with Dr. Chad Jordan, Owner of Cravings Gourmet Popcorn

Chad Jordan, the owner of Cravings Gourmet Popcorn in Old Town Lansing, sat down to explain some of the changes he’s seen at his business this year.

How was Cravings changed during the pandemic?

Now we do significantly more business online. Whether it is customers ordering to have it shipped or curbside pickup, that part of it has changed quite a bit. We have less people coming through the door, but that lack of foot traffic is kind of made up by businesses wanting to do special things for their employees because they are all working remotely. So, the business is trying to keep people connected through the of sending of popcorn.

How have operations changed Cravings?

We updated our website to be more modern. It was the first time we had done a large-scale redesign since, like, 2012. So, it was really needed. For us, it means constant cleaning and that everybody must wear masks. It’s making sure that we’re taking care of all of the safety things that we have to take care of to control people being sick or not getting sick. Operationally, that is probably the biggest change. Also, just because walk-in traffic is down, we are only opening six days a week now. And we have always been a seven-day-a-week company, always. But right now, we are six days a week, and we do not open till noon. Where before we would open at 10 a.m.

Have you had any supply issues?

We had some issues getting large amounts of sugar early on, but we have mostly had no trouble.

What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?

I am a huge fan of the chocolate drizzle popcorn. I love the chocolate drizzle. I love it with Mackinac Island caramel, which is like a dark molasses sea salt caramel. I love that.

How do you come up with some of the flavors?

There are so many ways, like my employees have all kinds of great ideas and then customers will come up with ideas. But you know, a lot of the ideas come from food recipes that people are inspired by. Sometimes you look at a snack in a grocery store, look at the ingredients and try to replicate the flavor but without all the preservatives.

How often do you come up with a new flavor?

Even this year, during the pandemic, we’ve we have created probably a close to a dozen new flavors. One of the ones was super popular. We made a black pepper, Parmesan, white cheddar. It was good. I could not believe how good it was.