Family brings Chicago-style popcorn with variety of flavors to Arizona
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — January 19 is National Popcorn Day, and one family-owned business is putting a delicious twist on a popular snack and sharing it with the Valley.
Maddie B’s Chicago Style Popcorn is located in downtown Phoenix near 7th and Roosevelt streets.
Michael and Bianca Dodd started Maddie B’s Chicago Style Popcorn in 2021 during the pandemic. They were both off work and looking for something to do. The Chicago natives decided to bring the flavors of the snack from their hometown to Arizona.
The name Maddie B comes from their daughter, Madison, and the B is for Bianca’s name.
Having no experience owning a business, the family now does this full-time. “The business, it allows us to do things that I don’t think working a normal job would really would have allowed us to do,” said Michael.
The Dodds work hard to ‘stay poppin.’ They make everything fresh and have around 27 different flavors, including cheesy cheese, Chicago Mix with cheese and caramel, caramel apple, lemon pound cake, birthday cake, flaming hot, bar b que, garlic parmesan, the Maddie jerk and more.
“Popcorn is the world’s oldest snack, and it could become quite boring if you’re just eating plain popcorn,” said Michael. “So, we decided to come up with these different flavors and it’s very intriguing to your senses. Like your brain might say it doesn’t sound good, but your taste buds will like it.”
Maddie B’s popcorn gets everything locally, from the seeds and oil to the fresh, real cheese they drizzle on. They use big “mushroom” kernels to hold flavor and do not use any preservatives.
The popcorn goes from the popper to the tumbler, where it spins while the flavor is drizzled on top. The Dodds make all their caramel-coated flavors in a shared kitchen with another popcorn shop.
They then dump all the popcorn from the tumbler on a shifting table, where it is sifted to remove any small pieces and husks that might get stuck in your teeth.
“When you leave out of here with popcorn, you’re leaving with a good mood,” said Michael.
The popcorn can stay fresh for 2-3 weeks. Maddie B’s Chicago Style Popcorn also ships nationwide.
The Dodd family sells their popcorn inside the ACRES, home to retail merchandise from other black-owned businesses.
The ACRES, which stands for Archwood Community Resource Empowerment Strategy, is from Archwood Exchange, a nonprofit founded in 2016 to help black entrepreneurs in the Valley. Through its marketplace, the ACRES has helped over 400 businesses and serves as a resource for black businesses, helping them achieve ownership and long-term stability.
Michael says Archwood Exchange and the ACRES really helped them with their business.
“It was a great opportunity for us,” said Michael. “They believed in us just like we believed in us.”
In the future, Michael hopes Maddie B’s Chicago Style Popcorn can expand to partner with Arizona’s sports teams and be sold in local grocery stores.
Maddie B’s Chicago Style Popcorn
Location: 610 E Roosevelt St, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Hours:
- Sunday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m.
- Tuesday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Wednesday to Saturday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m.
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