companyThe Profit · Season 1, Episode 3 · Aired August 13, 2013
Planet Popcorn
Southern California, California
Open. The rescue stuck and it continues to operate.
What happened after
Active e-commerce/custom-order popcorn business, women-owned (WBENC certified), Mon-Fri hours listed.
What happened on the show
Sharla had a lucrative Disney contract and a fleet of mobile popcorn stands working fairs, yet somehow the money never turned into profit. When Marcus reached the company's office he found chaos, a cash only operation with no way to track what came through the tills, no security at the stands, and bills literally scattered across the floor. He tentatively offered $200,000 for half the business and full control of the finances, planning a fixed retail spot near a shopping mall. Sharla fought him on the location, then revealed she would rather pivot into crepes than commit to popcorn, which left Marcus incredulous. She dragged her feet on a package redesign and even tried to buy, behind his back, a domain name he already owned. The deal curdled when he uncovered more than $300,000 unaccounted for in the books. Sharla blocked him from reviewing the finances without her and plainly could not read the figures herself. A forensic accountant he brought in found nearly twice as much money missing, and her total lack of alarm was the final signal. Marcus backed out.
After the cameras left
Planet Popcorn survived, in a smaller and cleaner form. It runs today as an online and custom order popcorn business out of the Newport Beach and greater Orange County area, women owned and WBENC certified, with standard weekday hours posted. There is a documented turnaround worth noting. In a later Season 2 check in, Marcus returned to find that Planet Popcorn had lost the Disney contract but that Sharla had actually taken his advice, cleaning up the cash mess and installing an inventory system, and he was impressed enough to float a fresh, much smaller offer. Whatever came of that, the brand is still trading, though we found no recent dated review pinning down its latest activity, so we hold this as a medium confidence open.
Sources
Confidence: medium. Last checked 2026-07-19.