Brandini Toffee ramps up popcorn production for holiday season at Southwest Costco stores

No matter where you are in Brandini Toffee's Rancho Mirage location, popcorn is all the craze — cashew almond toffee popcorn, to be exact.

Behind the production doors, the nutty coated sweet treat is made in several delicious steps. First, toffee is made by caramelizing sugar with butter and keeping it at a consistent temperature that won't burn the liquid gold. Simultaneously, mushroom popcorn (a more round shape compared to theater-style popcorn) is air popped, meaning no oils are used in the process.

Then, it's time for a match made in dessert heaven: the popcorn is coated in gooey, warm toffee and crunchy cashews and almonds. The product is spilled out on a table, and an employee moves it around to cool it down and make sure the perfect clusters form.

Why all this fuss over popcorn? Coachella Valley-born Brandini Toffee popcorn will soon be found on Costco shelves throughout the Southwestern United States and Mexico, just in time for the holiday season.

The brand has had a presence in Costcos in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas for years, and it has appeared in some stores outside of California, Founder Brandon Weimer told The Desert Sun. But the number of warehouses that 90,000 boxes of toffee popcorn will go to — locations include Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Mexico — is "definitely a higher quantity" than in the past, Weimer said.

Costco relationship

Friends Weimer and Leah Post first started selling homemade toffee as a means of raising money for a trip to Italy while they were students at La Quinta High School. The two surpassed their funding goals within a few months, and with the support of desert residents, Brandini continued as a family business.

Early on in the endeavor, Costco allowed the young entrepreneurs to sell samples of their product. Eventually, the retail company began selling Brandini's one-pound toffee tubs seasonally at stores in Palm Desert and La Quinta. Now, it's available year-round, which has led to more one-pound tubs being sold at Costco stores than anywhere else, Weimer said.

Brandini's relationship with Costco has only continued to expand. Weimer said the company began selling its popcorn concoctions several years ago locally and doing "rotations," where they showcased their products in additional stores in the Los Angeles and San Diego regions.

Earlier this summer, an opportunity came through Costco's San Diego buying team to get toffee popcorn out to more states. Even though it's meant much more work, and several tens of thousands of pounds of butter, sugar, cashews and almonds, Weimer said Brandini couldn't pass it up.

Sweet creations

The Brandini staff has been hard at work preparing 20-ounce cashew almond toffee popcorn packages, with shipments set to go out over the next few weeks. The total production will consist of 10 truckloads, which equals 300 pallets or 90,000 boxes.

To prepare for the orders, employees have shifted to 80% popcorn production. The goal has been to put out 3,000 pounds, or 24 batches, a day.

Brandini's toffee production has changed quite a bit since its humble beginnings. As a teenager, Weimer would make two pounds of the confection and stir the batch by hand for an hour.

"It's really hard to make toffee consistently," Weimer explained. "It separates, and the window for overcooking and undercooking is very short."

Thanks to the help of industrial cooking equipment, around 100 pounds of toffee can be cooked in a little over an hour's time. At a nearby station, 80 pounds of popcorn per hour can also be popped to later be drizzled in a sweet mix.

But that fundamental handmade element still exists in Brandini toffee making. During The Desert Sun's recent trip to the Rancho Mirage production facility, two women were observed laying a thick layer of the confection on a table to begin working on what Weimer calls the "most artistic step" to toffee making.

Like Goldilocks, they have to know when it's just the right time to start cutting up the toffee and transferring slabs to large baking sheets. If they wait too long, it'll crack, but if they start too soon, it'll be too gooey.

Once the toffee popcorn is coated and cooled, it's time to package it up, which has been another consideration with the new shipment. "We're always trying to position ourselves as giftable," Weimer said, especially around the holiday season, so the treat is packed in a black, resealable bag and then placed in a sturdy Brandini box. It's easy to wrap up the box, or it can be placed inside a stocking.

The popcorn will be available in California and Southwestern state stores in the coming weeks. The Mexico delivery will take additional time, Weimer said. That order has been particularly exciting because a new Spanish label with nutrition information and disclaimers was created.

After the popcorn orders are complete, production will switch back to 80% toffee bars and 20% popcorn.

It's been quite an undertaking for the local business, Weimer admits, but it could be the start of Brandini's name being known by more people around the United States. The founder looks up to other gourmet popcorn brands, like Chicago-based Garrett Popcorn and Cretors, which have become staples all-year round and can be purchased in stores nationwide.

"This is a really great way to build a presence," Weimer said.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Brandini Toffee expands to more US Costco stores this holiday season