Nataïs’ story is the story of a passion for the land. Michael Ehmann grew up in a farmers’ family in Germany and his parents were the ones who taught him to respect the soil and encouraged him to discover and try new things. When Mr. Ehmann was 24, he went to visit his in-laws in the US where he met this corn farmer who shared with him that same passion. At that moment, the idea of growing corn on his family-owned farm in France struck him.

So, Mr. Ehmann brought back 2kg of popcorn seeds in his suitcase. Of course at that time, he would’ve never imagined that he would become the first European popcorn producer! In the following years, he tried all kinds of techniques to come up with a satisfying outcome that would be best suited to their soil and climate conditions.

When the time to sell his first crops approached, Mr. Ehmann started looking for markets to sell this European popcorn and it was tricky! Thankfully, he was able to understand the industry’s demands by visiting many plants and customers.

In 2006, Mr. Ehmann was lucky enough to meet Jérôme Réthoré – his current General Manager, who shared his valuable expertise in structuring the whole company and particularly, its industrial process.

Throughout these years, he genuinely enjoyed building a network in the popcorn industry – especially with the farmers who worked hand in hand with him to grow his business. He believes that he managed to share his passion for popcorn with these farmers and the Nataïs team. These trustful relationships between employees, producers, customers and suppliers led to what Nataïs stands for today.