The Hoosier Agriculturalist Who Became the King of Popcorn

Here's the man who revolutionized one of America's favorite snacks. Oxana Denezhkina/Shutterstock

Kentucky gave the country Colonel Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, but Indiana bequeathed the USA “Kernel” Orville Redenbacher.

Indiana agriculturist and popcorn entrepreneur Orville Redenbacher lived and breathed popcorn.  No name today is more closely associated with the fluffy white snack than Orville Redenbacher’s. During his lifetime, he revolutionized the corn kernel, the popcorn industry, and he still reigns as The King of Popcorn more than 25 years after his death.

Orville Redenbacher in 1979. Public Domain

Named After a Pioneer

Born in 1907, Redenbacher was named after Orville Wright, one of the pioneers of aviation whose inaugural flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, occurred just four years earlier. Little did Redenbacher’s farming parents know that their son would one day pioneer hybrid corn seeds that would be enjoyed by millions.

Redenbacher’s passion for popcorn began at an early age. He opened his first business selling popcorn from 50-pound sacks cultivated on his father’s farm in Brazil, Indiana. As a teen, he sold popcorn from the back of his car in the summers and saved enough money to attend Purdue University.

In addition to cultivating his interest in studying hybrid seeds and earning a bachelor of science degree in agriculture in 1928, he played tuba in the Boilermaker’s All-American Marching Band, ran on the track team, and worked on the Purdue Exponent student newspaper. He was not only the first Redenbacher to graduate college but the first to graduate high school.

Redenbacher’s entire life revolved around agriculture, first as a vocational high school agriculture teacher and then as a Vigo County agricultural agent, when he helped counsel Hoosier farmers during the Great Depression.

Throughout his life, beginning as a student at Purdue, he soaked up information from other researchers of hybrid seeds. After graduation, Redenbacher’s own research was limited to his free time. His future success began popping in January 1940 when he was hired to manage a 1,200-acre farm for Princeton Mining Company in Princeton, Indiana.

Down on the Farm

At the time, the Princeton Mining Company Farm was Indiana’s largest farm, consisting of 12,000 acres of crops and cattle. The farm was partly owned by the Hulman family of Indianapolis Motor Speedway fame.

Growing corn to be used as popcorn for Princeton Mining Company wasn’t Redenbacher’s main responsibility, but the job did allow him time to experiment with different hybrid seeds, eventually growing popcorn that the company would sell to local supermarkets. Under Redenbacher’s leadership, Princeton Farms became the largest popcorn grower and seller in the country.

In 1947 Redenbacher parted ways with Princeton Farm and together with another Purdue graduate, Charles Bowman, partnered to buy Chester Seed Company in northern Indiana. Both men were driven by the same passion: creating the perfect popcorn. Bowman eventually served as the company president and Redenbacher headed scientific research. Their partnership lasted more than 50 years.

A Change in America’s Snacking Habits

Further motivating the partners pursuit of developing perfect popcorn was a shift in American culture beginning in the 1950s. During the sugar rationing of World War II, when candy manufacturers were unable to make their products, popcorn become a staple at movie theaters.

With the emergence of television and its rapid integration into American households, however, popcorn quickly became an American at-home staple as families gathered round to watch television. Among American households, the popularity of popcorn grew from 9 percent to 87 percent in just a decade. Recognizing that trend and wanting to capitalize on it, Redenbacher and Bowman hired a hybrid expert named Carl Hartman to work with them in cross pollinating popcorn seeds.

Together, for over six years, they worked with 30,000 hybrids to craft a popcorn that was fluffier, lighter, left fewer un-popped kernels, and tasted better than other brands. The new popcorn expanded 44-times larger after popping while other brands boasted only 20-times larger. They called the new popcorn RedBow, a combination of Redenbacher and Bowman’s names, though many thought the name derived from Redenbacher’s trademark red bow ties.

There was little doubt that RedBow popcorn was superior to other brands, but price proved to be an obstacle the first five years of availability. In an effort to expand brand awareness and generate more sales, the popcorn partners paid a Chicago marketing firm $13,000 to come up with a new name and brand strategy. The firm’s recommendation was surprisingly simple and, as we now know decades later, highly effective.

A statue of Orville Redenbacher in Valparaiso, Indiana. Chris Light/CC BY-SA 4.0

What’s in a Name?

Much to Redenbacher and Bowman’s surprise, the marketing team suggested the name RedBow be renamed Orville Redenbacher. Stunned, Redenbacher wryly noted years later on David Letterman’s Late Night show that he thought he and his popcorn pal had wasted $13,000 to come up with the same name that his mother had given him.

The marketing team’s instincts proved correct, however, when Redenbacher showed himself a natural on camera. He was so folksy and quaint on commercials that many viewers thought he was a marketing character created for an advertising campaign. To expand brand awareness and prove that he was a real person, Orville began appearing on television talk shows, though he made his national television debut in 1973 on the popular game show To Tell the Truth.

The face known to millions today was still unknown at that time, and none of the show’s judges correctly guessed which of the three contestants was the real Orville Redenbacher, though they did help increase the product’s popularity by raving about the popcorn during prime time.

Thanks to wide exposure in its popular television commercials, Orville Redenbacher quickly became a household name. By the mid-1970s, the brand had captured one-third of the uncooked popcorn market. Unable to keep up with the demand, the longtime Purdue partners sold the brand to Hunt-Wesson in 1976, though Redenbacher, as the face of the product, stayed busier than popcorn on a skillet. Redenbacher remained the brand’s affable spokesman and continued making television commercials well into the 1980s, not unlike Chef Boyardee had done with his canned Italian food products 30 years earlier.

In 1988, Purdue University honored Redenbacher with a doctorate degree. In 2012, Valparaiso, the Indiana town where he did much of his popcorn experimentation, dedicated a life-sized statue of him, complete with his trademark bowtie and tortoise shell eyeglasses. Redenbacher died at his Coronado, California condominium in 1995 at age 88.

Today, Conagra Brands owns the Orville Redenbacher’s brand. Both Redenbacher’s uncooked and microwave popcorn remain bestsellers, and every product still bears the name and likeness of America’s popcorn king.

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