Froggy's Popcorn leaps into the food truck scene with a poppin' camper

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One Louisville woman’s small business is poppin’ despite the pandemic.

Froggy’s Popcorn is celebrating the grand opening of its first store front on wheels, a refurbished camper.

Standing inside the cramped camper scooping fresh popcorn drenched in warm butter, Melanie Fischer has a massive smile on underneath her facemask. As corny as it sounds, this is her dream come true.

“This is our Snack Shack,” Fischer said. “We’re going to pull it around town like a food truck, and we’ll sell our gourmet packaged popcorn. And then we’ll also pop movie theater popcorn, and we’ll sell specialty drinks.”

Fischer, fondly known as Popcorn Mel, created Froggy’s Popcorn two years ago. A great popcorn recipe combined with her love for rescue animals launched the idea.

“I started with the sweet and spicy popcorn," she said. "It’s a salted caramel with a kick. And it was an old recipe that I had, that I took to parties and events. Friends kept telling me I should bag it and sell it."

So she did. And now, she has a menu of crazy flavor combinations using natural ingredients. Just to name a few: candy cane, farmhouse cheddar, chocolate coffee toffee.

Is your mouth watering yet?

The name — Froggy’s Popcorn — has nothing to do with a frog. It’s actually named after her rescue cat and now mascot Froggy. And 25 cents from the sale of each bag of popcorn goes to support local animal shelters.

Fischer was mainly selling the gourmet popcorn at festivals and farmer’s markets and online, but she had to change strategies once the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“When everything got shut down in March, I pivoted and started this project,” Fischer said, pointing to the camper. “I gave myself a few days to crumble. But this project is so dear to my heart that I just had to get up and keep going.”

"Popcorn Mel" spent all summer refurbishing the old camper with the help of her family and friends. She said she’s so grateful for the support that kept her going, along with assistance from the Louisville Small Business Development Centers’ Scale Up Louisville program.

Along with the new camper, Fischer is launching new flavors, gift baskets, holiday tins and a monthly subscription service. She said Froggy’s Popcorn will continue to push the envelope and find creative, safe ways to get the crave-able treats straight to the customers.

The Snack Shack is kicking things off at Chenoweth Park in St. Matthews through Saturday. Then customers can follow the camper and request its next stop through its social media page.