Smartfood Popcorn is a prepopped, flavored popcorn made by the Frito-Lay company.
History
Smartfood was first created in 1985 by Andrew Martin, Ken Meyers, and Martin's wife Annie Withey in Hampton, Connecticut. It was intended to fill recloseable packages that Martin and his business partner, Ken Meyers, were trying to market. Meyers was quoted in The New York Times as saying that "[t]he popcorn turned out better than the package." Smartfood was first marketed under the registered brand name in 1985, and was manufactured in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
According to Meyers, "Unlike the cheese popcorn already on the market, ours was made with real cheese and it didn't glow in the dark. We wanted quality and we were up against the negative consumer image, because prepopped popcorn in a bag was considered garbage, not worth the money because it is not fresh and you can make it better and cheaper at home."
In January 1989, the company was sold to Texas-based Frito-Lay for an undisclosed amount.
Ann Withey and Martin later formed Annie's Homegrown, which markets macaroni and cheese, pasta, and other organic products.
In 20th Century Fox's 1994 drama film Nell, the character can be seen eating Smartfood Popcorn.
Stephen Colbert's fictional pundit character drowned his sorrows over losing the 2012 election in a bag of Smartfood Popcorn on the November 7th episode of The Colbert Report that year.