Golden Valley Microwave Foods

A Leading Manufacturer in Microwave Popcorn

Golden Valley Microwave Foods (GVMF) was one of the pioneers in microwave foods in North America. The company later merged into ConAgra Foods in 1991 giving the latter a big boost in the portfolio of products and market reach.

Evolution of ACT II Brand

The company decided to pursue microwave cooking products at a time when less than 15% of households in the United States had microwaves. It was a bold decision then, but a series of great breakthroughs and innovative solutions has turned it into a giant with distribution chains across 30 countries.

The first brand from this company was the frozen entrée under the brand ACT I. The biggest feedback that Golden Valley got from the initial launch of ACT I was the need to get more number of popped corns in low to medium powered microwaves.

Extensive research and development led to the first non-frozen off the shelf microwave popcorn brand – ACT II. Since the launch of ACT II, Golden Valley has never looked back. Even after the take over by ConAgra Foods, ACT II remains a top brand among microwave popcorns.

Why was Golden Valley Microwave Foods So Popular?

GVMF were not just innovation through pioneering in first mass marketed microwave popcorn, but they were also about quality.

All the products were unique, first of its kind, great tasting and simple to cook. By specializing in microwave based cooking, Golden Valley Microwave Foods just made cooking so easy and so quick that it was too comfortable for the people to resist.

Another aspect of the innovation came in the taste. The ACT II popcorn product went from plain pop corn to a wide variety of flavored pop corns.

The great tastes and the wide range of flavors meant that almost everyone had a bag of ACT II popcorn that they would love. This was instrumental in increasing their popularity among the people.

Studies have shown that pop corns which use diacetyl in their buttery flavors can cause bronchiolitis obliterans- a life threatening disease.

To this effect major microwave popcorn manufacturing companies including ACT II has decided not to add this to their products.

Golden Valley Microwave Foods were great at understanding the consumer needs. Hence it is not surprise that they made the flavored microwave popcorn, first low-fat microwave popcorn as well as the first extra butter microwave popcorn and first microwave popcorn tub.

The Products

GVMF which based in Minneapolis, Minn., is the largest manufacturer of microwave popcorn in the world, selling its ACT II(R), Orville Redenbacher's(R) and Healthy Choice(R) brands in 30 countries around the globe.

Microwave popcorn, ready-to-eat sweet popcorn, popcorn balls, soft pretzels and snack mix are included in its product line.

GVMF is the first and only microwave popcorn manufacturer to control all selecting of seed, growing, sorting and processing of corn, as well as bag manufacturing, used in its popcorn products.

ACT II Range of Products

This was probably the brand that catapulted Golden Valley Microwave Foods into top market shares. Over the years several variations of microwavable popcorns have been created under this brand name.

Some of the popular products are

100 Calorie Butter Mini Bags
100 Calorie Kettle Corn Mini bags
94% Fat Free Butter
94% Fat Free Kettle Corn
Butter Lovers
Buttery Cinnamon
HomePop Classic
Kettle Corn
Light Butter
Movie Theatre Butter
Popcorn Balls Range: Easter, Halloween and Holidays

These range of great tasting products meant that you can always grab a bag of ACT II pop corns whether you are movie lover or a weight watcher. Almost all these products were the first of its kind when ACT II introduced them. So this brand has been a market leader in terms of getting to the market as well as in sales.

ACT II Microwave Popcorn

Crunch ‘n Munch Range of Products

This was another range of ready made popcorn products from Golden Valley Microwave Foods. Having made modest beginnings in 1966, this brand has gone from a local business to one of the leading ready made popcorn brands.

They come in multiple flavors like Butter Toffee, Caramel and Chocolate & Caramel. This brand is particularly loved by parents and children alike.

The reason being that children are treated to some sweet tasting popcorn and for parents there is an assurance that the popcorn their kids eat is not loaded with sugar.

Golden Valley Microwave Foods had been a great company that took the use of microwave to the next level. It was one of the first companies to come out with products that allowed people to use microwave as something more than a rapid food heater.