Meet Tom, Michael and Jason, The Co-Founders at Gourmet Popcorn Brand: Tommy Popcorn

Who’s behind Tommy Popcorn, and what unique experience do the founders bring?

 

Tommy Popcorn was founded by three entrepreneurs – Tom Leigh, Michael Norr and Jason Martinez Moreno – whose backgrounds span teaching, data-led marketing, consumer goods, branding and high-growth startups. None of them came from the culinary world, but that’s exactly what makes the story interesting: the brand wasn’t born in a kitchen, it was built through imagination, storytelling and a passion for creating products people remember.

It’s this mix of commercial know-how and creative flair that makes Tommy Popcorn more than just another snack, it’s a business built to last, wrapped in a cinematic world that people want to be part of.

 

Tommy-1oz-Set-transparent-2

 

How did you start it?

 

Michael and I (Tom) met at a farmers’ market in West Hollywood. Michael is a 5th grade teacher with no culinary background, who had an idea he couldn’t shake, and I came from a background in marketing and consumer startups. What began as a friendship quickly turned into countless late-night conversations about flavour, brand, and possibility, the kind of talks that go on until sunrise because you can’t let the idea go.

We realised there was a real gap in the market, people were looking for popcorn flavours that simply didn’t exist. That’s when it clicked. We wanted to create something that felt bigger than a snack: a brand with personality, nostalgia, and theatre baked in. What started as a kitchen experiment quickly grew into something much larger once we realised the appetite for a gourmet, story-led popcorn brand that didn’t look or sound like anything else on the shelf.

From those humble beginnings, Jason – widely regarded as one of the UK’s very best in Google advertising, with top-level training and credentials directly from Google, joined us to help shape the vision into something that could scale.

Tommy Popcorn has always been about more than just popcorn; it’s about togetherness, storytelling, and daring flavours with no apologies. The world we’ve built is inspired by the golden age of 1950s New York – a time of neon lights, cinema marquees and big dreams. That’s the spirit we’re channelling: popcorn that doesn’t just crunch, it transports you. And honestly, this is only the opening scene.

What flavours do you have and why?

Our current line-up includes:

  • Sweet Cinnamon – inspired by Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal.
  • Iconic Caramel– a nod to America’s sweet tooth, with a silky caramel finish.
  • Golden Irish  – bold, grown-up, infused with genuine Irish Whiskey.
  • Empire State – Tastes like a New York Cheese Slice.
  • Mallow Magic – marshmallow-infused, inspired by Lucky Charms cereal.

Each flavour is designed to spark curiosity and storytelling as much as they are to taste good.

 

 

What inspired you to start Tommy Popcorn, and how did the idea first come about?

 

We felt that popcorn had been left behind. For decades it’s been trapped in the “cinema snack” category, either overly sugary or blandly healthy. We wanted to elevate it, to give it personality, and to wrap it in a brand world that people could actually buy into. The idea clicked when we realised we could merge 1950s New York nostalgia with gourmet innovation, creating something that felt timeless but also fresh for today’s market.

 

How does the brand’s story tie into the personality and world of “Tommy”?

 

Tommy is a character you’ll never meet, a 1950s New Yorker of Italian descent, living in Brooklyn, obsessed with popcorn. Through him, we’ve built a cinematic brand universe: bold, nostalgic, and full of flavour. You’ll see his influence everywhere, from the product names to the visual identity, but Tommy himself is always out of sight. That mystery allows people to project their own imagination onto the brand, while still grounding it in a clear personality.

 

Why did you choose popcorn as your product, and what gap did you see in the market?

 

Popcorn is one of the most versatile snacking canvases, yet it hasn’t had its “craft” moment in the way coffee, chocolate, or beer have. We saw an opportunity to make popcorn exciting again, not just a low-calorie filler or a cinema add-on, but something premium, indulgent, and story-driven. The gap was clear: consumers wanted better quality and more adventurous flavours, but they also wanted brands with soul.

 

What makes Tommy Popcorn different from other snack brands already out there?

 

We’re not just selling snacks. We’re selling a narrative. Everything about Tommy Popcorn is designed to feel cinematic, nostalgic, and collectable. From flavour innovation to packaging design, it’s about theatre. Most snack brands lead with function (healthy, indulgent, protein-packed). We lead with the story first, and the product follows. That emotional hook makes Tommy Popcorn feel like more than food. It’s an experience.

 

How do your flavours stand apart from traditional popcorn offerings?

 

Most popcorn on the shelf falls into two camps: sweet or salty, with very little imagination. Our flavours are rooted in culture, place, and story. “Empire State” isn’t a gimmick. It genuinely tastes like biting into a New York cheese slice. We use real ingredients to capture that authentic flavour, laying it with a caramel coating to balance savoury with sweet. The result is bold, unexpected, and something the popcorn world hasn’t seen before.

Mallow Magic is inspired by the nostalgia of Lucky Charms cereal – marshmallow pieces infused into crunchy caramel popcorn. Playful, colourful and pure childhood joy in a bag.

 

What makes Tommy Popcorn an original contribution to the snack market?

 

Tommy Popcorn combines three things rarely seen together: cinematic branding, cultural storytelling, and gourmet product quality. It’s playful, nostalgic, and indulgent without being gimmicky. By building a character-led universe around a snack, we’ve created something that lives as much in people’s imaginations as it does on their shelves. That originality is what sets us apart.