Changes

The key innovation that expanded popcorn's popularity was the invention of the popcorn maker, created by Charles Cretors in the 1880s. In fact, the basic design of early popcorn machines has been retained in later developments. The machine Cretors founded enabled him to establish a company that still exists, where it specializes in popcorn machines and other concession foods. Cretors machine used steam to do the roasting, and it was suitable for roasting peanuts as well as making popcorn. the machine automated the process of popping the kernels and seasoning the popcorn, making the process uniform and thus ensuring that almost all the kernels came out the same. This facilitated the process of making popcorn from a more manual effort to one where a lot of popcorn could be made easily. <ref>For more on Cretors' early machine, see: Fussell, B. H. (2004). <i>The story of corn.</i> University of New Mexico Press pbk. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pg. 12.</ref>

The presence of Cretors' machines in festivals and fairs soon began to associate popcorn with these events, which popcorn is still associated with today. By 1900, Cretors' popcorn machines began to use electricity rather than steam. This early use of electricity insured that the company and the brand was well positioned for the increased electrification that occurred for household and larger consumer suppliers. Such developments now also made popcorn machines become more typical household items. Interestingly, the Great Depression had little effect for popcorn makers. During this time, popcorn was so cheap to make that it became a common food for consumption, enabling many suppliers to thrive in very difficult economic circumstances. It also meant that popcorn became more popular, as the low prices helped to spread its consumption outside of just carnivals or fairs but to also more daily consumption. One such business was the Redenbacher family, where the family was able to support itself during difficult economic circumstances by selling popcorn. <ref>For more on the development of popcorn machines and growing popularity, see: Nielsen, L. M. (2007). <i>The biography of corn.</i> New York, NY: Crabtree Pub. Co., pg. 23.</ref>

Interestingly, it was also during the Depression in the 1930s that popcorn became associated with eating during watching a film. Theaters began to experiment by putting popcorn machines in the lobby and selling it to moviegoers. This proved immensely successful that this idea began to spread to other theaters. In fact, many theater owners thought it would be distracting to sell popcorn, as it can be noisy to eat, but the success of popcorn sails changed their minds. During the World War II, sugar rationing meant that candy was not as widely available. With decreasing candy consumption in theaters and other venues, this opened the way for popcorn now to become the number one movie snack as well as the most popular snack in venues such as fairs.<ref>For more on how popcorn culture changed and transformed US consumers, see: Giedt 2013 </ref>