Look What Popped Up

Scott and Dianna Moore Turn Togetherness (and Popcorn Passion) into Retail Success

By Marianne Hamilton

As improbable as it may seem, love first bloomed for Scott and Dianna Moore at the Internal Revenue Service. Thirty-three years later, the couple still prefers to spend as much time together as possible, tinkering with new recipes and testing their creations out on friends and family members.

But in most cases, the Moores’ gourmet offerings don’t find their way to the dinner table. Instead, their delicacies are added to the inventory of nearly 200 popcorn flavors offered at Moore n More Gourmet Popcorn in St. George, Utah.

Back when Dianna was completing her degree in business education at Weber State University, she worked nights as a file clerk at the IRS. Her shift brought her into contact with fellow filer/ Weber Stater Scott, then pursuing studies in sociology and gerontology. The pair spent hours parking returns according to social security number, bonding over the inherent tedium of the task. Friendship, then love, sparked (or popped); ten months later, they were married. Scott’s three children from a prior marriage came with the union followed by three more little ones of their own.

Throughout the course of their marriage, the Moores had a variety of businesses, including a custom framing company and Dianna’s TUPPERWARE™ sales. Both became educators, with Dianna currently a twentyyear veteran of the Pine View High School faculty and Scott a member of the Washington Elementary counseling team. Never had the couple considered themselves foodies.

“We wanted to wait until our kids were older so we could spend as much time with them as possible,” Dianna recalled. “But they grew up and moved elsewhere—along with fourteen of our fifteen grandkids. So we started looking for something that we could do together. I’m so lucky that Scott goes along with my crazy ideas!”

One such notion first took hold when the Moores visited a popcorn store in Las Vegas, Nevada. Scott took a liking to the Oreo cookies and cream flavor while Dianna swooned over the dill pickle variety. “I said to Scott, ‘We could do this!’ We’d never done anything with food, but I’m definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants type. I went online and started doing research. A week later, we had a bunch of equipment; a week later, we had more,” Dianna said, grinning.

The Moores’ initial foray into popcorn came in 2013, with Dianna standing at the couple’s kitchen stove, shaking kernels into a small pan. Her attempts to replicate the cookies and cream treat proved disastrous. But with the purchase of a larger cooker—and countless hours of experimentation—Moore n More Gourmet Popcorn was soon packaging and selling a variety of popped products at Swiss Days, county fairs, farmers markets, and other local events. “For several years, we went up and down I-15,” Dianna noted. “We didn’t have the use of our kitchen table; there was a giant piece of equipment on it! The whole time, I was looking for a place to open a store. But Scott was afraid it would be too expensive.”

“Business-wise, I didn’t think we were there; I wasn’t prepared to take that leap,” Scott confirmed. “I feel like we did it the only way we could, which was to start small, at home, build a bit of a website, and get the word out there.”

In 2021, space became available in the Sunset Plaza Shopping Center. Taking a leap of faith, the Moores signed a lease only to have the pandemic sabotage their plans. Their contractor contracted COVID, bringing renovation of the space to a halt, and the metal needed to construct the massive exhaust hood required by law became unavailable. Still, the couple pressed on, installing new flooring and hanging wallpaper themselves and locating additional equipment online. By February of 2022, they were open for business.

Today, Moore n More Gourmet Popcorn occupies an airy, cheerful space in which floorto-ceiling shelves are brimming with tempting products in three categories: candied, savory, and chocolate. Imported candies, fudge, and cotton candy are available as well. At any given time, the Moores, along with various family members who work in the store, have roughly sixty popcorn flavors on hand. (Those family members include son Travis, now one of the business owners, its accountant, and an invaluable part of the store’s operation.) The Moores will gladly create custom varieties and seasonal flavors. In this effort, Scott’s talents come to the fore.

“I’m constantly toying with flavors, seeing what combinations we can create,” he said. “I prefer the savory flavors. It’s always fun to experiment and come up with new things. I love it, and I want people to love it; that’s where the fun is.”

Then pausing to scoop a freshly popped batch into a bag, he added, “We definitely have a fun product. Everyone knows what popcorn is, and almost everyone likes it. Also, I’ve read several articles in which popcorn is listed as the healthiest snack you can have. And it really is…until I get a hold of it!”

In their decade of exploration, the Moores admit they’ve popped a few failures. While many flavors they’ve concocted, such as pralines and cream, coconut cream pie, and white chocolate raspberry lemonade, fly off the shelves, others, such as hot dogs and ketchup, jalapeno caramel, and crab, have (perhaps understandably) seen less-than-stellar sales. “We live in a very ‘sweet’ state,” Scott said, laughing. “Someday, we’ll get people to see that savory is the thing.”

Moore n More Gourmet Popcorn is located at 1973 W. Sunset Boulevard in St. George, Utah. For more information, call (435) 574-7292 or visit https://moorenmorepopcorn.com/.

About the Author

Marianne L. Hamilton is a veteran journalist and marketing writer whose work appears in regional and national publications. When not race walking, hiking, or teaching water aerobics, she is the past Board Chair of Art Around the Corner and the Special Events Manager for DOCUTAH. She and her husband, Doug, are also co-administrators of the St. George Wine Club and race directors for the Huntsman World Senior Games and National Senior Games. Marianne was crowned Ms. Senior Universe 2021-2022 and is the Senior Pageants Group’s Senior Games Ambassador. She is a proud breast cancer survivor.