Small Business Shoutout : Harley’s Gourmet Popcorn & Cider Shoppe
Popping around Downtown Dunedin brings us to Harley’s Gourmet Popcorn and Cider Shoppe. The popcorn made at Harley’s is gourmet because it’s cooked in small batches in house and seasoned with organic ingredients and spices. How does popcorn go from just butter to natural delicious flavors? Owner of Harley’s, William Freeman, used his past lives to create his new passion for gourmet popcorn. From Reggae Night Clubs to Masters degree to Corporate, William has learned a lot over the years with his entrepreneurial drive. William also helped found the Spice & Tea Exchange, which gave him a background in mixing and testing organic ingredients and spices. Little known fact about spices on popcorn is there is a layering technique. This allows for distinctive flavors to be noted from each other. “Bloody Mary” is seasoned to taste the tomato, then the celery and lastly the pickle. Harley’s opened in late 2019 with a kickin’ start until Covid shut them down for about six weeks. Thankfully business picked up around Cinco de Mayo and Harley’s has been popping off ever since. William partnered with Lisa and her husband to bring on a team and to grow Harley’s to what it is today.
Only the best is used at Harley’s, real lime juice is used in the Key Lime Pie popcorn and real bacon is used in the Smoked Maple Bacon popcorn. The double lined resealable bag allows for snacking on the go to enjoy now or even later. All of the popcorn flavors are also gluten free except for the S’Mores and OMG! popcorn. If you’re parched, Harley’s offers refreshing drinks, Cider Lemonade and Harley’s Cider Blast, which contain natural spices and are very delicious. Their Cider Lemonade is unique to Harley’s by taking traditional lemonade and adding pure apple cider. During the winter months try their hot ciders and during the summer enjoy their seasonal popsicles. Harley’s captures the feel of an old New England style “cider house” to allow customers to be transported back in time. Harley’s changes how we perceive popcorn, a usual candy store feeling is now luxury snacking.
Harley’s loves Dunedin! If you go inside Harley’s, you may notice on the right-hand side a community wall. Monthly donations are made to Feeding America and to the local pantry, Dunedin Cares. Harley’s is also environmentally friendly by using rice bags for the popcorn and paper straws.
Harley's has 16 to 18 flavors in stores at all times, four or five of which rotate out seasonally. With forty to fifty different gourmet popcorn flavors to choose from, Harleys always keep things fresh. Harley’s also allows taste testing with all their flavors to make choosing easy and fun. When walking around Dunedin, a light snack seasoned with some of your favorite flavors, from Salted Caramel to Nashville Hot Chicken, sounds like the perfect option. Hopefully in the near future, Harley’s will be popping up in other locations near you as well as already being available online for orders. Check out Harley’s at 316 Main St. Dunedin and tell William and Lisa we sent you from Out & About Dunedin!
