Jasper Gift Basket and Popcorn Company; Over sixty fun flavors and counting

“We screw up the popcorn sometimes,” Juanita Eckert said, explaining that the new gourmet popcorn ideas they have at the Jasper Gift Basket and Popcorn Company don’t always work out on the first try.

“Sometimes we’ll try it and just think ‘nope that’s disgusting’, but sometimes the guys will eat it.” She explains.

She and Jackie Siefert come up with the new gourmet flavors to add to the sixty plus flavors they already offer at the Newton Street store. Sometimes they are just trying to get the popcorn to look right, but the results can be messy.

“Remember the cherry,” Juanita asks Jackie, “We got too much cherry in there and it was wet. It looked like a bloody soggy mess.”

Jaunita and her husband Tom Eckert own Eckert’s Pool Supply. They started the pool supply company in 1996 after seeing a need in Jasper. The Jasper Gift Basket and Popcorn Company is the most recent addition to that business, but since the beginning she and Tom have been constantly adding on and trying out new ideas.

“We had to do something else or we’d be eating hotdogs and bologna in the winter when the pool supply business falls off.” Juanita explains the need to expand and develop new product lines.

She describes the development of the business like the tumbling of a thought process. What started as a need for pools and pool supplies led to outdoor grills. Outdoor grills led to rubs and sauces. Rubs and sauces led to gift baskets. Gift baskets led to popcorn.

These days Tom is out installing and servicing pools and hot tubs while Juanita and her crew, Jackie Siefert and Bobbi Cornelius, are at the store on Newton Street dreaming up the next step in the evolving business. They also spend a lot of time developing and perfecting new popcorn flavors. “A month ago we came up with German Chocolate Crunch popcorn, which is awesome.” Juanita said.

“It turned out amazing,” Jackie agrees, “Snikker Snack, popcorn drenched in Snickers is another great flavor.”

Surprising to Jaunita is the fan favorite Dill Pickle. She doesn’t understand the attraction to the flavor but it is one of her top sellers along with Chicago Mix; a regional favorite that combines cheddar, butter, and caramel into a sweet and salty savory flavor.

The secret to the popcorn’s flavor is the fact that it is all popped and prepared fresh at the store. The ladies have even tweaked the original recipes to put more flavor in the popcorn. “The recipes were designed to increase the profitability of the popcorn, but we wanted more flavor, so we started coming up with our own recipes.”

Not only is the popcorn drenched in flavor, but colors can be added as well. Hence the cherry popcorn incident, but their successes can be seen in the popcorn for the Strassenfest done in the festival’s signature colors. They have also done the black and gold for the Jasper Wildcats, but other colors are offered for the customer, like a bag of apple cinnamon popcorn filled with a Christmas mixture of vivid red and green colored kernels.

So baskets filled with grilled sauces and rubs, sausages and cheeses, and popcorn and. . .candy of course. The next step in the evolution and, even though Juanita offers candy from Libs and South Bend Chocolate Candy, she has started making a few signature pieces at the store.

“We have the most delicious pretzels dipped in caramel and chocolate.” Jackie sighs.

But the big addition to the candy line was a fun twist on an old favorite. It started as an idea Bobbi had to make a chewy crunchy treat a bit more fun. “Suckers are fun cause they are on a stick.” Jackie said. “So we started making our chocolate turtles on a stick.”

Mixing the two favorites together they came up with the name of their new treat. “Turtle-pops.” Jackie explains. “Turtle-pops. We are going to be famous for our turtle-pops.”

All of this creativity and expansion is apparent throughout the store. Stacks of candy displays, outdoor decorations, grills, pool supplies, party supplies, and even outdoor furniture are pushing for space in the large store beside Springs Valley Bank. With all of this stuff and the continued growth and experimentation the store continues to go through, Juanita and Tom are about to build an addition to the store to accommodate it all. Plans are in the works to break ground on an expansion this Fall.

Eckert Pool Supply and the Jasper Gift Basket and Popcorn Company Hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m to 5:30 p.m. Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and after hours by appointment.

Phone: 812-634-2700