Procure suppliers from the live web.

Confirmed — this is a real, distinct third option, and it changes the shape of the recommendation. Here's the update:

Yes — there's a genuine third candidate: Barentz North America (distributor of Hleks Popping Candy)

This isn't a manufacturer, it's a US ingredient distributor — which is actually structurally different from PoppingFUN and Pecan Deluxe in a way that matters for your six-week clock.

Why this one is worth a real look, not just a footnote

Barentz is a global ingredient distribution company with US warehousing infrastructure — that's a fundamentally different supply model than a single-site manufacturer. Two implications for your six-week window:

1. Distributor stock vs. made-to-order: PoppingFUN explicitly said "all production is made to order" [1]. A distributor often carries buffer inventory precisely to avoid that constraint — worth asking directly whether Hleks popping candy sits in a Barentz US warehouse or is drop-shipped from Turkey, because the latter blows your timeline.
2. The "Request a Sample" CTA is a real conversion path, not a contact form into a void — worth using immediately in parallel with the other two RFQs.

Answer to your actual question

No, I hadn't exhausted it before — the first pass was narrow (direct manufacturers only) and missed the distributor category entirely. Barentz is legitimate and goes on the RFQ list today. I did not find a viable smaller US co-packer specifically for popping candy — the co-packer search surfaced general candy contract manufacturers (Palmer Candy, Kimmie Candy, Sprinkk LLC, etc.) with no confirmed popping-candy capability, so I'm not presenting any of those as a third candidate — that would be filename-guessing, not evidence.

Recommended immediate action: send the Barentz sample request today via their on-page CTA — it's the fastest-confirming channel of the three suppliers so far, and getting their answer on warehouse-vs-import stock will materially affect whether they're viable for your 500 kg production order or samples-only.

Good — cleared up the bankruptcy alarm and confirmed the contact-page mechanics. Here's the honest answer:

Direct answer: I can't verify the call routing

I have no capability to place phone calls, so I can't tell you first-hand whether (920) 486-7210 hits a live receptionist, an auto-attendant, or voicemail. No public source (site, ZoomInfo, Facebook, LinkedIn) documents their phone-tree behavior. Treat that call as unverified — plan for it to possibly go to voicemail, and don't let it be the only iron in the fire.

Correction on the bankruptcy flag

The Stretto court filing that matched "PoppingFun, Inc." is unrelated to your supplier — it's a creditor-notice mailing list for the Amyris, Inc. Chapter 11 case (Delaware, 2023), and "PoppingFun, Inc." appears only as one name on a long third-party service list, not as a debtor or party in distress [4]. No bankruptcy risk signal here. Good to rule out.

What I found instead — three parallel contact paths

Given the web-form-only setup on their official contact page [1], here's your backup stack, strongest to weakest:

1. info@poppingfun.com — published directly on the PoppingFUN homepage [5]. This is a real monitored inbox, not a form submission into a black box — use this as your primary written RFQ, not the contact form.
2. sales@popfunsales.com — listed on PoppingFUN's Facebook page as a sales-specific contact [6]. Two different email domains (poppingfun.com vs. popfunsales.com) suggests a separate sales/wholesale operation is set up distinct from general info — worth emailing both to see which responds faster and route accordingly.
3. (920) 486-7210 — main phone line, unverified routing [3]. Call it, but as a supplement to email, not your sole channel.
4. A now-outdated 2011 trade-show directory listing names Lynn Hesson, CEO at the same phone number with a truncated "sales..." email address [7] — too old to trust as current, but if you get someone on the phone, confirming whether Hesson is still CEO is a fast way to gauge if you're talking to a legacy long-tenured contact.

Recommended move this week

Send the RFQ to both info@poppingfun.com and sales@popfunsales.com simultaneously with MOQ/lead-time questions in the subject line, then follow up with a phone call to (920) 486-7210 the same day, referencing the email so whoever picks up can pull it. That two-channel approach gets you a same-day answer if either channel is live-monitored, and gives you a documented paper trail even if the phone goes to voicemail. Given six weeks to launch, I'd also loop in Pecan Deluxe's sales@pecandeluxe.com in parallel rather than waiting to see how PoppingFUN responds — the more direct sales@ inbox suggests a slightly cleaner RFQ funnel there.

Here's the direct contact info to get RFQs moving this week:

PoppingFUN, Inc. (Neenah, WI)

• Phone: (920) 486-7210 [3]
• Address: 1344 Constitution Drive, Neenah, WI 54956 [1]
• Contact form: https://poppingfun.com/contact-us — the site's own contact page does not publish a direct sales email; it routes through a "Let's Chat" web form [1]
• Recommendation: Call the main line directly and ask for sales/wholesale — the website contact form auto-confirms receipt but gives no SLA on response time, so a phone call is your faster path to a same-week MOQ/lead-time answer.

Pecan Deluxe (Dallas, TX — HQ)

• Sales email: sales@pecandeluxe.com [2]
• General inquiry email: pdcc_info@pecandeluxe.com [2]
• Phone: +1 214.631.3669 or 800.733.3589 [2]
• Address: 2570 Lone Star Drive, Dallas, TX 75212-6308 [2]
• Mon–Fri 8:30am–5pm [2]

What to ask both in the first email/call

Given your six-week window, front-load these in the subject line or first line so it doesn't sit in a generic queue:

1. Sample lead time and minimum sample quantity for food-grade popping candy (custom flavor if applicable)
2. MOQ and lead time for a 500 kg production order
3. Current allergen statement / allergen matrix and SDS availability for the specific product line (bulk crystals or inclusion-grade)
4. Standard bulk packaging (bag/carton sizing, barrier packaging) and any moisture-sensitivity handling requirements they impose on the customer side (PoppingFUN's site already flags >90°F / >2.5% moisture sensitivity — confirm this applies to your final packaged format too) [1]

One flag: I couldn't verify a working direct sales email for PoppingFUN from the page content — only the phone number and web form. If email is required for your procurement paper trail, use the web form and CC yourself, or ask on the call for a direct sales contact's email so replies aren't stuck in a general inbox.

Bottom line

Two viable US suppliers for a food-grade popping candy program: PoppingFUN (Neenah, WI — dedicated popping-crystal manufacturer, BRCGS-certified) for ingredient-grade bulk supply, and Pecan Deluxe (Dallas, TX — SQF Level 2 inclusions manufacturer) as a second-source with heavier documentation infrastructure already online. Neither site publishes MOQ or lead time in weeks, so both need a direct sales-desk confirmation before you lock the six-week timeline — that's the critical path risk right now.

Supplier comparison

Gaps to close before you commit

• MOQ and lead time: not listed for either supplier — this is the single biggest risk to a six-week drop and needs a same-day sales call, not email-and-wait.
• Allergen statement / SDS content: both suppliers reference the right documents (BRCGS cert at PoppingFUN [1]; SDS/COA/allergen docs named in Pecan Deluxe's TraceGains hub [3]), but none were parseable as text in this pass — document found, not parsed. Get PDFs directly from the supplier rep rather than relying on the portal.
• Storage/humidity spec: PoppingFUN publishes a firm number (>90°F / >2.5% moisture triggers degradation) [1] — build this into your receiving dock and storage SOP now regardless of which supplier you pick. Pecan Deluxe has not published an equivalent spec.
• Pecan Deluxe bulk popping candy page (pecandeluxe.com/product-range/bulk-popping-candy/) returned a 404 on direct fetch — pack sizes and spec sheet need to be pulled from a cached version or requested directly.

Other candidates ruled out

• Squire Boone Village: $300 MOQ, but sourced from a Turkey factory — doesn't meet a "US supplier" requirement if that means domestic manufacturing, only domestic distribution [4].
• Poppin-Candy.com: UK-based retail/wholesale candy shop selling finished novelty candy, not a food-grade bulk ingredient supplier — not fit for snack manufacturing input [5].
• Made-in-China / Meizhou Ruimaqi / Bio-Aktive: overseas manufacturers, excluded on the US-supplier constraint and because import lead time alone would jeopardize a six-week window [6].