Popcorn Etc owner lives out childhood snack dream

As a young girl growing up in Corpus Christi, Jannell Ormand enjoyed going with her older siblings to their favorite gourmet snack store, Popcorn Etc.
“My sister and I would choose popcorn for our birthdays, special occasions or even just after school,” she said. “It was so awesome. I remember even as far as elementary school looking forward to going to Popcorn Etc and picking out our favorite flavors, which were strawberry, watermelon and banana. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would one day end up owning this place.” 
Popcorn Etc and Occasions began as a gourmet popcorn and novelty store in the 1980s. Ownership twice changed hands before ending up with one of its biggest fans, Ormand, who is currently the third proprietor.  
After high school, Ormand and married her husband, Claude, who was a U.S. Marine at the time. For 22 years, their family travelled from one duty station to another. Every visit home brought Ormand back to Popcorn Etc with her own children. She vividly recalls the cataclysmic events that led to her returning to Corpus Christi permanently and coming across a new business opportunity.
“My husband was stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana, and we had just bought our house in Slidell six days before Hurricane Katrina,” she said. “The aftermath turned our lives upside-down. I returned home with our three children while Claude was sent to Dallas.”
It was during this period that she began secretly imagining what it would be like to own her favorite snack store. As their time in Texas came to an end and the house repairs after Katrina were completed, the Ormand family returned to a city still unsure of where it was going — it would take years to rebuild what the hurricane destroyed. In 2007, the family decided to come back home to Texas for good.
Ormand began working for a land developer while doing party and event decorating on the side. She stopped into Popcorn Etc to leave some cards promoting her decorating business. She got into a conversation with owner Gonzalo Cabello, who confided he was looking for someone with whom to entrust the business he had run with his wife for more than 20 years. 
“I asked him what it would take to sell it to me,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Just give me the money. I’ll give you the keys.’ I told him I’ll think about it, but driving home to Calallen, I was shaking like a leaf with excitement.”
When Ormand came to work the next day, she told the land developer she wanted to pursue her dream of owning her favorite popcorn shop.
“We had just signed a contract for a new project, but I had to tell my boss I wanted to pursue this business venture,” she said. “He said just from the expression of my face, he could tell how happy I was and gave his blessings. After I left, I went straight to Popcorn Etc and wrote Mr. Cabello a check, and that was it. In August 2007, I officially became ‘the popcorn lady.’”  
However, the first week as the new proprietor did not get off to a poppin’ good start.
“Now, I had popped popcorn before, but these machines were huge, like a washer and dryer,” she said. “For the first two days, Mr. Cabello passed down all the recipes to me and showed me how to do everything. After he left, I tried to do it myself, following the recipe to the 'T,’ but my first batch was so awful; it came out mushy like oatmeal.”
She tried again with the same result. She finally called Cabello to come back to help. 
The second time around, Ormand kept a close eye on Cabello, observing that he seemed to know when the batches were ready by sight and smell. 
“I realized I was only following the recipe temperatures, whereas he, having done this for so long, could tell by his senses when it was time to add the other ingredients,” she said. “I carefully studied his method and learned when it was time to add and when it was not time to add. It took me about four to six weeks to perfect it, but it’s been great ever since.”  
Popcorn Etc offers the traditional gourmet fruity flavors with which Ormand grew up such as banana, cherry, coconut, grape, green apple, pineapple and strawberry. She also carries seasonal flavors such as watermelon, blueberry and raspberry during the summer months and chocolate, cinnamon and peanut butter in the fall and winter. Holiday-themed flavors include Spooky Brew (October), Crazy Cupid (February), Mardi Gras (March), Sweet Jalapeño (June), Texas Chili (July), and Peppermint and “Berry Christmas (December), just to name a few. 
For the month of April, Ormand recommends Tuitty Fruity as a popular flavor to coincide with Easter. It includes a mixture of seven fruit flavors.
In addition to popcorn, the store also houses a gift shop that promotes arts and crafts from local artists. Ormand promotes the business on a website and Facebook page where customers can find prices and seasonal offerings.
Customers range from businesses and corporations looking for promotional gifts for their clients, party planners needing a color-themed popcorn for their upcoming event and parents and children getting an afternoon snack. 
Like Ormand, some customers are longtime fans who come in to reminisce about their favorite childhood treat.
“I feel youthful, like a kid in a candy store,” she said of running her business. “I would love it if Popcorn Etc would inspire wonderful memories for the next generation of children, just as it did for me.” 

Popcorn Etc is located inside the Oak Village Shopping Center at 5230 Kostoryz Road, Suite #2. For more information, call (361) 851-0372, visit popcorn-etc.com or search for “Corpus Christi Popcorn Etc” on Facebook.