A family trip to Thailand and a suitcase full of snacks helped four sisters turn their childhood dream of starting a business together into a popcorn brand generating $7,000 a month

The Lertlumprasert sisters — Lisa, Lita, Charlene and Charlie — had been talking about building a business together since they were children. It took a family trip to Thailand in February 2023 to finally turn that childhood idea into reality.

The sisters returned to the US with a suitcase packed with Thai snacks, which quickly became a hit among their American friends. At the same time, they felt the “better-for-you” snack category in the US was lacking products that were both healthier and exciting. The combination sparked an idea: take a familiar snack such as popcorn and give it a distinctly Thai-inspired twist.

Based in Washington, DC, the four sisters eventually turned that idea into Party Of, a popcorn brand that grew from homemade batches into a side business generating consistent monthly revenue.

How a family trip to Thailand sparked Party Of

The idea began with snacks. According to Lita, a data scientist, the sisters brought back a variety of Thai treats after visiting family in Thailand and shared them with friends. The response was immediate — people loved them.

As reported by Entrepreneur, that experience, along with the sisters’ belief that US consumers had few genuinely exciting options in the better-for-you snack space, prompted them to rethink familiar snack foods.

The sisters also brought different professional skills to the table. Lisa, who owns and operates Thai restaurants, contributed her culinary experience, while Lita brought her background in data science. Charlene had experience in UX design, and Charlie worked in product management. Together, those skills helped shape the foundation of what would become Party Of.

From homemade popcorn to a branded product

Before making their first batches, the sisters focused on understanding their potential customers and the problem they wanted to solve.

Charlie identified six dimensions of product-market fit: target customer, problem, value proposition, competitive advantage, growth strategy and business model. They decided branding would be one of their key competitive advantages and invested $28,000 in working with branding agency Outline.

The sisters kept their early production costs relatively low. Lisa used ingredients already available at her restaurant, while the team purchased corn and brown bags for their popcorn. Charlene created the initial packaging design on Canva, with the product initially carrying a “ZingPop” sticker before the sisters eventually rebranded it as Party Of.

They also found support outside the business. The StartupCPG Slack group became a valuable, free source of advice, connections and knowledge as they navigated the early stages of building a consumer packaged goods company.

When scaling the business became a major test

The sisters faced their biggest operational challenge while participating in Compass Group's Retail Incubator Program.

The programme required them to produce more than 30,000 units in less than four months — a volume greater than everything they had sold during their first seven months in business.

Meeting that demand meant making a major change to their production process. The sisters moved to a pillow-pouch format, forcing them to revisit their packaging design and understand new material requirements. Their existing co-packer was unable to manage the equipment and scale they needed, so they had to find another production partner.

Even after that, problems continued. Bags were not cutting cleanly on the production line, shipments were held up at customs and tariffs added another unexpected cost.

The sisters relied heavily on their network to navigate those setbacks, seeking advice and making decisions even when they did not have all the answers.

Party Of’s growth and lessons from building the business

By 2025, Party Of’s revenue had quadrupled from the previous year, while the sisters had also reduced their cost of goods sold by roughly 25%. For Lisa, those numbers are a sign that the difficult early years of building the brand are beginning to translate into tangible progress.

The business now generates around $7,000 in monthly revenue on a fairly consistent basis. That figure can rise significantly when larger orders come in, with individual orders ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.

For Charlene, however, the appeal of entrepreneurship goes beyond revenue. Having complete control over the company and being able to make every major decision herself has offered a sense of satisfaction she did not find in corporate work.

Lisa’s advice to aspiring founders reflects one of the lessons the sisters learned early: understand product-market fit before getting too far ahead. Getting that foundation right, she believes, can prevent significant time and resources from being wasted later.

Charlene has a different lesson from the journey. If she could go back, she says she would have taken the company’s finances more seriously from the beginning.