Orville Clarence Redenbacherwas an American businessman most often associated with the brand of popcorn that bears his name... (wikipedia)
Every once in a while, someone will mail me a single popcorn kernel that didn't pop. I'll get out a fresh kernel, tape it to a piece of paper and mail it back to them.
It proved easier to buy the farm to get the mineral rights than to buy the coal rights alone.
It was necessary to have an even depth of corn on the top compared to the sides, so the air would not take the easiest route and not evenly dry the stored corn.
I had popcorn all over the place, so I decided I might as well be in the Processing Business.
The cobs were delivered to a big pile. We were one of the first to feed corn cobs to cattle.
We got to know the competition very well. In the '50s popcorn made a big growth in sales. Our main push was to produce the best quality and sell in quality retail outlets.
In the Depression we had to divert corn acreage.
We dried continuously day and night. We had no efficient way to do it, so we built this new popcorn plant.
Most of the competition was into bulk popcorn because of the major increases in the Drive-In Theatre Outlets.
I moved to Princeton, Indiana, and became a professional Farm Manager for that Princeton Farms.
We made more money feeding molasses, urea, and corn cobs to cattle than we ever did feeding dent corn.
I opened an office in Terre Haute, established eight of them, and became one of the eight county agents.
The other Processors sold inferior corn in the consumer package because many consumer buyers were only interested in a good price.
The quality sold in the amusement business did not measure up, and that is how we got into the package business with our superior product.