Thursday, January 31, 2013

Khalifa Fund and Etihad Airways help popcorn business, well, pop



When Khalid Al Shekaili started selling his gourmet popcorn in 2009, he thought the best way to do it was at small stands at shopping malls.

This turned out to be an expensive and complicated way to do things, what with having to cook the kernels on site and comply with the various regulations governing the production of fresh food.

Then Etihad Airways came along and told the company that if it could package the popcorn into portion-sized packets, it would try it out as an in-flight snack. And that, so to speak, is when the company really took off.

Etihad placed an order for 12,000 packets. Airline contract in hand, Mr Al Shekaili and his brother, with whom he co-founded the Popular Popcorn business, approached the Khalifa Fund for support.

"We told them we are seeing a lot of acceptance from a wide range of customers - and this is a big contract we have won," he says. "They saw it was locally manufactured and told us to draw up a business plan."

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/the-life/khalifa-fund-and-etihad-airways-help-popcorn-business-well-pop#ixzz2JXr5JHt0

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