It’s not corny: snackmaker pops the question during interview

A popcorn entrepreneur who used an interview with a magazine to propose to his girlfriend told of his relief that she said yes.

Mat Firth has seen Toasted Gourmet take off since launching it in 2011 and now sells more than 1,000 bags of popcorn a week. He supplies Fortnum & Mason and the Partridges food market in Chelsea.

Aware he had been neglecting his girlfriend of eight years, Ebeny Kurz, as he focused on his firm, Mr Firth decided to use an interview about the rising popularity of his product to ask her to marry him.

Talking about his long hours, including 5am starts on a Saturday, he said: “Ebeny has been amazing about it. In fact, I want to use this article to ask her to marry me.” Mr Firth told the Standard: “I hadn’t thought it out in advance — I just decided to do it. I was a bit nervous the next day when it went online. I told her to have a look and stood in the other room. Suddenly I heard this uncontrollable giggling so I knew she’d read it. She said yes, so I was pretty relieved.”

The couple, who live in Pimlico, moved from New Zealand two years ago. Ms Kurz, 29, said: “I was laughing so much I made him ask me again. It has been hard work setting up the business. I’m really proud of how well he’s done.”