Popcorn maker opening site in Lehigh Valley, needs workers
A longtime popcorn manufacturer is opening a Lehigh Valley facility and is looking for employees, with wages starting at $18 an hour.
Weaver Popcorn Manufacturing is holding a hiring event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at CareerLink Lehigh Valley, 555 Union Blvd. in Allentown, to fill positions at its new site in Bethlehem Township.
According to CareerLink, Weaver Popcorn is hiring case packer associates, material handlers and machine operators. The starting hourly wage for a case packer associate is $18, while material handlers start at $20 and machine operators begin at $21. Those wages go up by $1 an hour after 90 days.
Those interested can fill out an application ahead of time at www.careerlinklehighvalley.org/ or browse job listings at Weaver Popcorn’s careers website.
CareerLink referred The Morning Call’s questions to Weaver Popcorn, which did not provide more information about its Lehigh Valley operation despite repeated inquiries. In job postings online, Weaver Popcorn says the new facility will open in the first quarter.
Weaver Popcorn Manufacturing is one of three independent operating companies that comprise Indiana-based Weaver Popcorn Co., the fourth-generation, family-owned business that was founded in 1928 by the Rev. Ira Weaver.
The manufacturing company handles production and co-packing of popping corn, microwave popcorn and ready-to-eat popcorn for several national brands, private label partners and all Pop Weaver-branded items, according to its website.
Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., said Weaver Popcorn’s arrival in the area continues what has been a “sweet spot of manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley,” with food-and-beverage tenants hungry for industrial space in the range of 35,000 to 45,000 square feet.
Cunningham wasn’t aware of how many people Weaver Popcorn is looking to hire, but he said the wages the company is offering should help in the competition for workers. Just last month, shipping supplies giant Uline hosted a hiring event for its Lehigh Valley campus, with wages starting at $23 an hour. Other companies in the area’s booming industrial sector also have raised pay rates.
“That’s where you have to be to hire and retain,” Cunningham said.
As for the U.S. popcorn production industry, a December 2019 report from IBISWorld expected steady growth moving forward as popcorn “becomes established as a healthy alternative to other snack products and operators continue to develop flavorful, nutritious products.” IBISWorld expected industry revenue to increase at an annualized rate of 0.7% to hit $2.3 billion by 2024.
That report was released before a pandemic that has decimated movie theater attendance and shifted more film premieres to the living room, debuting via streaming options.