Garrett Popcorn, Candyland settle Chicago Mix dispute

There is only one Chicago Mix and it’s made in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Garrett Popcorn Shops has agreed to stop using the “Chicago Mix” name for packages of cheese and caramel popcorn. The combination is now called “Garrett Mix,” a transition already in the works when a trademark lawsuit got a public airing earlier this year.

“The Garrett Popcorn Shops’ brand name is one that we believe holds the greatest value with our consumer and renaming of the CaramelCrisp and CheeseCorn mix to The Garrett Mix was a decision made long ago,” a Garrett spokesperson said in an email Thursday. “There are countless brands now using the Chicago Mix name on what Garrett Popcorn Shops feels is a product vastly inferior to ours.”

Candyland Inc., a St. Paul snack shop, has held a trademark for “Chicago Mix” since 1992.

Garrett isn’t the only company to use the name. Candyland’s trademark lawsuit is still pending against Snyder’s-Lance Inc., the maker of O-ke-doke popcorn, and Cornfields Inc., which makes G.H. Cretors popcorn.

Garrett, which is owned by CaramelCrisp LLC, and Candyland filed a settlement agreement earlier this month in federal court in Minnesota. The settlement didn’t mention any financial terms.

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