Kettle Heroes Popcorn
October 14, 2026
Kettle Heroes Popcorn was founded in 2013 to highlight and celebrate the everyday heroes who often go unnoticed.
Why Kettle Heroes? Says cofounder Rudi Sinykin, “We’re a kettle-cooked popcorn. We’re the opposite of air-popped, skinny-popped popcorn. We’re a full-flavor, small-batch popcorn.”
“The other side is the heroes. We wanted to honor military veterans, first responders, teachers, nurses, and parents of people who are everyday heroes in people’s lives.”
Rudi with his brother, Aaron Sinykin, cofounded the business to honor their grandfathers, who fled persecution in Czarist Russia and both proudly served the United States in World War II in order to give back to their adopted country. They are the heroes to whom Aaron and Rudi pay homage with every bag of Kettle Heroes Popcorn.
The brothers partnered with the Pat Tillman Foundation and focus on Tillman scholars when spotlighting a hero.
“We feature a different hero on the back of each bag” to keep Pat Tillman’s legacy as a hometown hero alive, Rudi said. Tillman was a former Arizona State University Sun Devil and Arizona Cardinal who also served as a US Army Ranger. He was known for being fiercely loyal and dedicated to service beyond self.
The military experience of the Sinykins grandparents motivated them to pursue higher education and community involvement, leading the brothers behind Kettle Heroes Popcorn to motivate the next generation of real heroes to make a difference in this world.
In fact, their paternal grandfather literally had a front-row seat to world history: As a member of Gen. MacArthur’s staff, the elder Sinykin is pictured in the delegation at the Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri in 1945.
While the Sinykin brothers plan to keep the focus on doing one thing really great—making kettle popciorn—they are looking beyond Arizona’s borders for growth.
“We plan on going nationwide,” Rudi said. “We’re trying to grow and become a national company in next couple of years.”
“We take pride in making a really awesome product.”
The Sinykins believe such everyday heroes deserve only the best, crafting real, kettle-cooked popcorn in small batches, using only the finest, natural, allergen-friendly ingredients. These bold flavors represent the everyday American heroes they honor.
Camelback Provisions and Roosevelt Row in Terminal 4 are two of the locations at Phoenix Sky Harbor that sell Kettle Heroes Popcorn.
