At The Personal Gift Basket Co., we thoughtfully curate our delicious treats from vendors from all over the country. This month, we want to introduce you to one of our favorite popcorn companies that we have had the pleasure of working with.
The Art of Caramel
The Art of Caramel creates caramel popcorn in adult-inspired flavors. This gourmet treat has become a thriving Los Angeles-area business, thanks to the mother and daughter team of Alycia and Taylor Oh.
This is caramel popcorn like you’ve never experienced before. Flavors include:
- Vanilla Bean Cocoa Nib (their most popular)
- Kentucky Bourbon with Black Pepper
- Bananas Foster Dark Rum
- Mayan Chile Chocolate
- And more, including a Personal Gift Basket Co. custom flavor (keep reading)!
From Finance to Food
Alycia spent her early career in the mortgage business. Her passion, however, was gourmet food. As the mortgage industry felt increasingly volatile, she took some time off to consider how she could start enjoying her work again.
Alycia found a job as a food buyer, traveling the world and bringing her favorite flavors back to LA. As she did the work, she saw an opportunity to create beautiful, unique popcorn in a business of her own.
Soon after Alycia’s daughter Taylor graduated college, they decided to partner on the venture. Together, they manage the business while coming up with mouth-watering new flavors.
Popping Up Everywhere!
The Art of Caramel found its way into a store in the Los Angeles International Airport. One day, a Japanese marketing professional picked up a bag of Mayan Chile Chocolate Popcorn as a gift on his way home.
He gave it to his boss, who called Alycia, saying, “We’ve got to bring this popcorn to Japan!”
Then, just by chance, their popcorn found its way onto Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Before the Ohs knew it, their popcorn had been featured on NBC, in The Robb Report, and in the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Clients have even included The Late Late Show and The Emmys!
But Alycia and Taylor’s big celebrity moment was with author Dave Pilkey of Captain Underpants fame. Taylor read Pilkey’s books when she was little. Having Pilkey choose The Art of Caramel for a Scholastic Books Holiday Box was an absolute thrill for them.
The Art of Caramel + The Personal Gift Basket Co.
Alycia’s favorite flavor is their Fiori and Salt Popcorn. A unique take on salted caramel, it starts in Italy with fourteen kinds of flowers. When the flowers are dried, ground, and sent to LA, they’re mixed into the caramel. Then, they top the sweetly floral popcorn with Maldon Sea Salt.
The result is out-of-this-world.
Our favorite popcorn, however, is the Gooey Butter Popcorn, formulated by The Art of Caramel exclusively for The Personal Gift Basket Co.
Our founder, Lisa Paden, worked with Alycia and Taylor to create this delicious popcorn. Not being from St. Louis, they had never tasted gooey butter cake! Lisa sent samples of her favorites for them to experience so they could recreate the signature taste.
“Deliciously Unique”
The Art of Caramel is deliciously unique. Their popcorn makes a thoughtful stand-alone gift or as an add-in to our gift baskets. When you give it, you can feel confident you’re giving something as individual as you are.
When ordering your next custom gift from The Personal Gift Basket Co., make sure to request we add delicious popcorn from Art of Caramel!