Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Damien Thompson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Damien, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Sure! It was a warm spring day and we were living in Chicago, and Sarah and I had just picked up our daughters from school. We started to walk towards home, and that’s when we noticed we were trapped. At the end of the block sat an ice cream truck, blocking our path and blaring it’s siren song. The girls wanted ice cream, and at this point so did we. The trouble is, though, that I’m lactose intolerant and our youngest was sensitive to sugar, so we had to choose carefully. We searched the menu board for the least troubling options but we knew that anything we chose would cause a sugar rush followed by a crash, not to mention the potential of an upset stomach for me. But it was such a nice day, so we gave in to the urge. We walked home with spoils in hand wondering why can’t we have delicious frozen treats that don’t contain the bad stuff? And not only that, but why can’t we find alternatives that taste great and are full of the good stuff? We searched all over for frozen desserts that fit the bill, but we couldn’t find any. So, we decided to make them ourselves.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A little about me- I’ve made a living as a photographer specializing in Consumer Packaged Goods for about 15 years now. I have worked on just about every kind of food product you can imagine and have seen so many food trends come and go. The one trend that I was most fascinated with was the movement towards “better for you” products. I noticed that there was so much innovation happening around this idea throughout the grocery store, but frozen novelties seemed to be stuck in the past. I saw that there was an opportunity to innovate and show that frozen novelties can taste great with an ingredient profile to match. My wife and Co-founder Sarah has a background in herbal medicine and nutrition, so we decided to put our knowledge to the test. And that’s why we started Honey Child Pops.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We started at home in our kitchen using plastic popsicle molds we bought on Amazon. We were making a lot of smoothies at the time, so we started by pouring our favorite smoothie mixes into the molds and freezing them. Those early trials produced a range of results, from delicious to disgusting. Some pops would become rock hard when frozen and were more like ice cubes on a stick than popsicles. We quickly learned that our recipes would need to be modified for sweetness and texture, and after much trial and error we started to see positive results. It was a great learning experience, but we knew we would need better equipment if we were going to scale our idea. Over the past four years we have acquired machines that help us to make and freeze large quantities of pops quickly. These tools help us to achieve textures and blends that are not possible with traditional freezing methods. We’ve developed methods for turning an idea into a delicious new flavor with only minor adjustments. We feel like we’ve come a long way, but at the same time it’s like we are just scratching the surface of what is possible. Pops-able? Ha, we love a good pun.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Our reputation is built on our promise to deliver the most delicious, guilt-free frozen treats and with impeccable customer service. We want Honey Child Pops to be the highlight of your day, and we want you to come back again and again. To that end we make sure that the whole experience, from our friendly and knowledgeable staff, to the packaging, to the act of enjoying a pop, is positive and memorable. When we deliver on that promise, we turn skeptics into customers, and customers into brand ambassadors.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.honeychildpops.com
• Instagram: @honeychildpops
• Facebook: @honeychildpops

Image Credits
All images copyright Honey Child Pops