Butterkist Crunchy Toffee Popcorn - 78g

It started in Kentucky, oddly

For a brand this British, the story begins somewhere unexpected. In 1914 Fred Hoke and James Holcomb started selling popcorn machines in Kentucky, USA, under the Butter-Kist name. The machines arrived in the UK in 1938, and the brand grew exactly where you would want popcorn to grow: through sales to cinema audiences. After the Second World War, Craven Keiller built a factory in York to supply Butterkist popcorn directly to UK cinema chains. Popcorn and the pictures, sorted.

From York to Pontefract

Butterkist grew into the UK's leading popcorn brand, and the paperwork followed. In 1998 Craven Keiller sold it to Cadbury Trebor Bassett, which in 2000 merged it into its Monkhill Confectionery subsidiary and moved production to Pontefract, West Yorkshire. In 2017 KP Snacks acquired the Butterkist popcorn business from Tangerine Confectionery, including the Pontefract site and 140 staff. KP Snacks is part of the Intersnack Group. Plenty of owners over the years. The bag in your hand still comes from Pontefract.

A century old and still winning

Butterkist marked its 100th anniversary in 2014, and as of 2025 it is Britain's best-selling brand of popcorn. Not bad for a name that started out on popcorn machines in Kentucky. It is the Friday night film on the sofa, the long coach trip, the emergency cupboard snack that never survives until an actual emergency. Somebody always says they only want a handful. Nobody has ever only wanted a handful. You know exactly how this goes. Open it anyway.