BEAVERCREEK – Trying to avoid the sweet and salty smell of popcorn is a lot harder than trying to find it. Just look for a guy in a yellow tent giving out free samples.
Matt Vincent, 33, and owner and operator of Kettlemasters Kettle Korn, moved from southern California to Kentucky seven years ago, where he has been cooking popcorn ever since.
Vincent runs his business throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee. You can find him at soccer tournaments, fundraisers, corporate events and local fairs. Vincent admits, ” My favorite events to do are the soccer tournaments. It is an awesome environment to work in, and I meet a lot of great people.”
He finds a lot of his work by searching the Internet for soccer tournaments.
His first Dayton-area soccer tournament was the 2004 adidas Warrior Soccer Classic. As word spread quickly through the tight-knit soccer community, he picked up nearly 20 local events, popping corn from March through October on almost every weekend. Vincent set an all-time record on Saturday of the Mead CUSA Cup, popping over 1,300 pounds of corn with 400 pounds of sugar and 750 pounds of oil. At one point, a team parent passing by, hopped into the tent to help keep up with the demand.
Each batch of the special hybrid corn takes about three minutes to pop and fills about ten medium bags.
Vincent truly is a Kettlemaster.
PHOTO: Vincent hands a bag of freshly popped corn to a soccer player at the Mead CUSA Cup.