Briefs: Popcorn! Cowbell! Kowabucha!

A prominent downtown storefront is about to be popping.

With more than 30 flavors of popcorn, that is.

D'Angelo Tines, a 2016 graduate of John Marshall High School, has signed a lease to bring Popus Gourmet Popcorn to the corner of First Avenue SW and Second Street SW, in a space formerly occupied by Essence Skin Clinic.

The business, which was started in 2017 by Tines’ cousin Walter Dean, already has two locations in Illinois. The brand is, perhaps, best known in those parts for its award-winning caramel popcorn recipe.

In opening a Popus franchise in Rochester, Tines will be partnering with his parents, Jennifer and David. They are aiming for an October opening date.

"We think Rochester deserves a location like this,” said Tines. “The flavor is phenomenal; it's not something that's around here, or that many people have experienced, and we are excited to share it with everyone.”

Tines said he chose the Second Street storefront — which looks out at the redesigned Heart of the City area — because of the high volume of foot traffic created by Mayo Clinic and other downtown businesses.

And while Tines acknowledged the Popus location will face competition from another popular popcorn maker in town, Carroll’s Corn, he believes Rochester has the capacity to support both businesses.

"I think there's enough room for the both of us to operate — and operate well,” Tines said in a phone interview. “Carroll's Corn has been here a long time. They have a lot of history in Rochester. We are not trying to take away from that. It's healthy competition, I believe."

Red Cow Moo-ving closer to opening

Red Cow has set Aug. 10 as the opening date for its new Rochester location.

The 6,000-square-foot restaurant, located at 217 14th Avenue SW in the Berkman Apartment building, will be the fifth location in Minnesota — and the first outside of the Twin Cities metro area.

Owners Luke Shimp and Tracy Bachul had hoped to open the restaurant earlier in 2022, but say pandemic-related issues caused delays.

Once open, the Rochester Red Cow will have room for 130 seats, plus an additional 50 on the patio. Guests can expect the same menu available at other Red Cow locations, such as burgers, salads, and sandwiches, along with craft cocktails made with local spirits and 40 beers on tap.

More cowbell!

A group of local entrepreneurs hope to have you saying, “I gotta have more cowbell!”

After a couple of years of refining their recipe, John Pacchetti, Joshua Grenell, and Nolan Fox recently launched Cowbell recovery drink.

While other beverage markets have reached points of saturation — think hard seltzers or energy drinks — the trio believe there is a growing and unfilled demand for beverages designed for post-workout recovery.

"We set out to build a drink that would have a ton of supplements in it for recovery for hard workouts and do it with a drink that actually tastes good,” said Pacchetti. “Because there are not many out there right now.”

While there are a small number of other recovery beverages on the market, Pacchetti said many of them are not transparent about what goes into them. That is why, he added, Cowbell opted not to advertise a “propriety formula” — and instead lists every ingredient right on the bottle.

To create the product, the Cowbell team relies on beverage partners in Louisville, Ken. and Madison, Wis. It distributes the product out of a facility on US-14, near CrossFit Progession, which is co-owned by Grenell.

Their initial strategy is to market to CrossFit facilities and other gyms, while also offering a direct-to-consumer subscription model.

"They tend to be really strong advocates for new products,” Pacchetti said of CrossFit gyms. “They are early adopters of products like this, and so it just very natural for us to embrace the environment we all kind of grew up in."

Not just kombucha, but ‘Kowabucha’

Speaking of which, a new kombucha brewery could be on the way for the Med City.

After consistently selling out of their product at the Rochester Farmers Markets, Matt Jewison and Mark Martincek of Kowabucha Kombucha are looking to scale up their operation at a facility in northwest Rochester.

They are now working with the City of Rochester and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on zoning and licensing, in the hopes they can begin brewing and distributing their kombucha to local businesses.

"Anywhere I go, I always try to drink something local — because it is just going to be fresher and it's going to be hand-crafted,” said Jewison, who owns the city’s two Anytime Fitness locations. “It's the same as grabbing a beer from a local brewery, versus grabbing a Bud Light somewhere."

If things work out, the kombucha will be brewed and bottled out of a 1,500-square-foot facility shared by one of Jewison’s gyms at 4181 31st Ave NW.

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.