How Leila Keshavjee Turned a Healthy-snack Craving Into an Ice Pop Empire
In early 2016, I used to be ending my bachelor’s diploma in kinesiology on the University of Toronto. I used to be additionally working part-time as a analysis assistant and training gymnastics, and I’d been accepted into grasp’s applications. Life was busy, and I just about lived on smoothies I made for myself.
That spring, I made a decision to take up a brand new interest: making my very own wholesome ice pops. I’d discovered that grocery shops lacked snack choices that had been low in sugar and components, so I gave it a go. I acquired entry to a tiny business area close to my house in Toronto that belonged to a member of the family and started working. For my first batch, I combined contemporary mango, water, lemon juice and natural cane sugar right into a base that I then froze to make 50 ice pops. I’m a South Asian Canadian, so contemporary fruit was a staple snack at house rising up—we all the time had some within the fridge.
The ice pops turned out impressively tasty, so I made a decision to attempt promoting them at an area farmers’ market. Seeing individuals benefit from the treats introduced me a lot pleasure that I purchased extra gear on Kijiji, began lugging cooler packing containers full of my ice pops to extra farmers’ markets and integrated beneath the identify Happy Pops.
By the autumn, regardless of having no entrepreneurial expertise, I’d put my research on maintain and joined an incubator program on the University of Toronto referred to as Impact Centre. I went on to land catering contracts with shoppers like Google, Scotiabank and Aeroplan. I then launched at native meals shops, like Summerhill Market in Toronto.
In 2018, trying to find new methods to develop, I auditioned for Dragons’ Den on a whim. I landed a spot on the present and acquired a suggestion from Arlene Dickinson for $150,000 for 30 per cent of the corporate. I took the deal on-air however later determined to not proceed as a result of I used to be not prepared to provide away such a giant chunk of the business. Still, the present was an enormous second for me. Until then, I’d hesitated to inform folks that I had paused my research to change into a meals entrepreneur, as a result of it seemed like such a random pivot. Getting Happy Pops on TV was an inflection level for the business.
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The publicity helped me scale. I invested the cash I made into renting a bigger business area with extra freezer capability, hiring a producing workforce and an accountant, outsourcing advertising and marketing and design and growing new flavours, like Passion Fruit, Guava, Matcha, Lychee Lemonade, Orange N’ Cream and Lemon Mint. Meanwhile, I used to be sending pitches to Canada’s largest grocery shops. In 2019, Sobeys began stocking Happy Pops in its shops in Ontario, and ultimately throughout the nation; Metro adopted go well with in 2020 with its shops in Ontario and Quebec. We started transport coast to coast in cooler packing containers with dry ice. The skill to ship throughout Canada and fulfill orders from our new e-commerce retailer helped hold us alive throughout the pandemic.
Seven years into this business, some elements of it haven’t modified: I’m nonetheless Happy Pops’ sole proprietor, our base recipes stay the identical and we’re nonetheless promoting at farmers’ markets on weekends. On the opposite hand, there are some issues that I by no means may have predicted: We had a partnership with Aeroplan and created a customized flavour for Sesame Street. We’re additionally at the moment growing limited-edition ice pops for Mattel, which can launch later this yr. We produce multiple million ice pops yearly, they usually’re offered in 1,500 grocery shops throughout Canada in addition to at points of interest like Canada’s Wonderland and Ripley’s Aquarium.
And but our workforce stays lean—we simply employed our first administrative assistant. Along with making the chief choices, I nonetheless run our social media and develop and taste-test flavours. It’s busy, however I’ve change into higher at discovering a work-life steadiness by carving out time in my day to trip my bicycle, play golf or be with household and pals. Hearing that individuals love my ice pops and realizing that youngsters have entry to a high-quality snack that I didn’t have whereas rising up makes all of it worthwhile.
