people's pops

People's Pops Vision Quest

2012-01-10T18:05:00.006-05:00

As small-business owners, we spend a lot of time scrutinizing and discussing other businesses. What makes walking into Buvette, Do or Dine, or Porsena so heart-warming? What specific elements render the Hotel Saint Cecilia so magical? What puts Costco at the top, and Wal-Mart at the bottom, of employee-happiness rankings, even though they’re in the same business?

One of the organizations I’ve most admired over the course of my biz-ucation is Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which opened thirty or so years ago as a Jewish deli and has now grown into a “community” of 13 businesses (coffee roaster, cheesemaking dairy & publishing house, to name a few), still based in Ann Arbor. These peeps take corporate culture creation to another level, so I read founder Ari Weinzweig’s “A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Building a Great Business” with deep and abiding interest, marking up my copy until it was more ink than paper. Then I sent copies to Dave & Joel.

Last month, having spent enough daiquiri-sipping beach time to have gathered a modicum of perspective on our 2011 season, we got together for a “visioning” exercise that the book describes. Before meeting, we each spent an hour individually painting the most positive shape we could imagine our business morphing into in five or ten years, if everything we did from now til then went absolutely perfectly. Then we shared our visions.

A small business can either run you, or you can run it. There are so many daily fires to fight that years can elapse before you lift your head and take stock of where you’ve ended up. The point of the visioning exercise is to set down goals and chart a course to them, allowing you to move ahead proactively rather than reactively.

To no one’s surprise, our visions matched very closely. Even the three of us had never formally “visioned” together before, we’ve spent enough time discussing and debating our philosophies and dreams for them to have meshed into ones we hold collectively, and our business is very much a child of that. Despite that, it feels really good to set our sights on a landmark ahead, instead of adrift in an infinite sea.

It’s hard work, analyzing who you want to be (and, just as importantly, who you don’t). But that’s what gives organizations like the Saint Cecilia and Zingerman’s their identity, and determines why the people who work there care and love it.

The harder work is still ahead, though: holding ourselves to that vision and executing it.

End of Season 4

2011-11-03T17:00:00.006-04:00

After a little bit of this....

(yes we did sell pops when it was SNOWING, never again please)

We did a little bit of this....

(closing down the shops for the season)

Tomorrow, there'll be a little bit of this...

(Joel & Danielle GET MARRIED!!!!)

and then, we'll all experience a little bit of this...

Thanks for another GREAT season, y'all!

We're out!

(keep in touch....lots of good stuff brewing.......)

Season ends soon!

2011-10-08T16:25:00.008-04:00

And now, a little poetic interlude....

Summertime came and went

But thanks for all the times well spent!

Unfortunately our time is almost through

Making our delicious ICE POPS for you!

So stock up now, while you still can

Before everything's packed away in our People's Pops van....

The fabulous Christine wrote this poem to commemorate the end of our *fourth* season, which mostly ends Oct 15, although we'll stay open in Chelsea Market until Halloween.

We're sad to go. This summer's been amazing! Our business doubled, our shops tripled, our staff quadrupled. Nathalie's toenail, which turned black from where she dropped an ice block on it in May, has finally grown back to normal. Time flies when you're having fun! Through it all, we kept our eyes on the prize: delicious pops, busy shops, great service, good times.

Who made the times so good? The troopers listed below, our 2011 crack team of perpetually smiling, very sexy, strong-as-oxen ice mongers. I present you:

Rue Snider	Meghan Sebold	Jack O'Brien
Charlie Stopek	Charlie Smith	Christine Wang
Malcolm Barrett	Sharlena Powell	Ben Silbert
Clyde Loving-Cortes	Gasky Joseph	Jaymie O'Brien
Danelle Snider	Katie Traynor	Michael Caglione
Kaitlin Winter	Justin Manley	Brian Austin
Darren Fiorello	Eamonn McMahon	Marilyn Stout

I wish I had a group photo from our midsummer party to post here, but I drank too much to remember to take one. Maybe it's best left undocumented.

But hark! It's a miraculous 80 degrees in New York as I write this (October 8), ideal ice-pop temperature. So why are you reading this? Go out and eat some pops while you still can!

Photo Shoot at Nat's Apartment

2011-08-12T16:21:00.020-04:00

After the high last week of having achieved our lifelong dream of prime real estate on New York Magazine's approval matrix, this week's photo shoot with photographer Jennifer May and prop stylist Alana Chernila was icing on the cake.

Alana transformed my apartment into a prop shop that was everything we'd wished for: stylish, retro, imaginative, whimsical.

Caught mid-photo, the fabulous Jennifer May, with husband Chris in the background.

Lunch break for Korean food from across the street.

Joel putting some finishing touches on a cantaloupe & Campari shot.

Our type of pièce montée.

Blow-drying for the ice-pop equivalent of bed-head, that just-so sheen.

Blueberry & moonshine mise en scène.

Last shot of the day.

Such fun!!

Our last photo day is this Sunday, Aug 14th. Come by the Williamsburg Flea after 3 p.m. in brightly colored clothes--we'll comp your pop if you smile for our picture!

Scenes from the Summer

2011-08-11T00:16:00.002-04:00

Cool fish-eye pic of Clyde at our East Village shop sent by popsi-fan Anna Kelman.

Megan, Sharlena, Katie & Joel getting buck wild in the kitchen while preparing custom pops for Grey Goose Vodka.

East Village People's Pops Cabana Now Open!

2011-07-08T20:57:00.011-04:00

Hours:

5pm-10pm Monday-Wednesday

5pm-midnight Thurs-Friday

noon-midnight Saturday

noon-10pm Sunday

occasionally closed unexpectedly due to rain or flakiness

Dispatches from the People's Pops Email Inbox

2011-06-30T15:53:00.007-04:00

From this week's email exchange, a picture of Nat and Dave at the MAST Academy prom in Miami in May 2000.

Joel responds:

David:

Pop Culture, Indeed

2011-06-30T15:39:00.004-04:00

Has anyone noticed the profusion of pops in mass marketing this summer?

Here's a giant pop at Target, right next to a giant flip-flop.

Here's the window of J. Crew on 5th Ave (it's hard to tell, but the little squares in the backdrop are all ice pops)

Here's Pret a Manger in Union Square.

Anyone else seen examples of this lately?

What's New These Days

2011-06-17T19:58:00.019-04:00

Our lives are moving by so fast that everything is happening in bullet points! (And exclamation marks!!) (And question marks?)

Joel's talented brother made a video of our first day at the Brooklyn Flea this year. It's here...and so convincing that you almost forget everyone is wearing mittens and parkas. Thanks Nate!

We are up on the High Line again for the summer: find us at the "Chelsea Market Passage" (right above 16th St).

We are suuuper psyched about this. If you haven't been on the High Line lately: Part II just opened, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Get thee to it, and after Wednesday 6/22 our Joel-and-Robin-designed new kiosk will also be there to admire.

Besides our own retail outlets, you can also find our pops nesting chez these fine purveyors:

Nolita Mart (Nolita)
Brucie (Carroll Gardens)
Marlow & Daughters (Williamsburg)
Brooklyn Victory Garden (Clinton Hill)
Stinky Bklyn (Carroll Gardens)
Whole Foods (Upper West Side).

For years now we've been turning down folks in Tennessee, Colorado or Florida who want to get their hands on some pops. No more! Anyone further afield and jonesin', take note: the lovely folks at Manhattan Fruitier will now ship people's pops overnight on dry ice. Wooooot!

The other day I randomly noticed that the background pic on Rue's phone was the chalkboard from last year's Chelsea Market shop, where it's been....since last year. We have hired some awesome new people we feel lucky to hang out in the kitchen and on the shop with...but it's pretty great to get the old family back together again, too.

Every summer, the season swallows us in, whirls us around, and (eventually) spits us out. The ride is far from over, but we're optimistic. Our problems may be bigger, but they're better, too. Stay tuned. We have more news coming.

It's Art, Y'All.

2011-05-17T00:22:00.003-04:00

One of our customers helped bring this one-ton block of ice to the Bahamas, where it sat for a year in a clear glass freezer powered by solar panels.

Way to make us feel like wimps, Tavares Strachan.

One-Month Pop-Up in Madison Square Park!

2011-05-05T09:35:00.006-04:00

New Location Opening Today!

We're taking part in a one-month pop-up on the west side of Madison Square Park (Worth Square) from May 6-June 3.

Come see us! Bring your mom!!

Saturday, as always, we'll be at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene, at this new Mad Sq Mkt pop-up and at our Chelsea Market shop. We'll also be at the New Museum's Festival of Ideas for New York City, vending on Rivington St and Chrystie St.

Sunday (Mother's Day), we'll be at the Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg, this new Mad Sq Mkt pop-up and at our Chelsea Market shop.

It's gettin' to be summer! Woot woot!

The Real Chelsea Market After Dark

2011-04-26T19:19:00.011-04:00

FACT: people's pops Chelsea Market is open until 9pm Monday-Saturday (Sundays til 7).

FACT: you can legally drink alcohol at our Chelsea Market shop

FACT: BYOB to our Chelsea Market shop and one of our friendly servers will make you a shave ice cocktail mixer. If you don't have any booze handy, stop by Chelsea Wine Vault and pick up some Prosecco.

A few shave ice cocktail suggestions:

watermelon-tequila
peach-champagne
pear-cognac

See you after dark....

2011-04-17T14:48:00.003-04:00

Joel just sent in a pretty (daytime) pic of the shop--we love it! Much love to Robin Hiner, woodworker extraordinaire, and his cool girlfriend Katie.

Wee hours of last night

2011-04-14T12:14:00.011-04:00

The shop in Chelsea Market's looking nearly good to go! This is it circa 6 a.m. Thursday (this) morning.

What does this mean? It means, of course, that full-fledged summer is just around the corner. And to celebrate, we're giving away free shave ice on Day 1 again, 'til supplies run out!

We're in a spot right next to last year's shop, near the doors on 15th St b/w 9th and 10th Ave, by Jacques Torres and Lucy's Whey in the so-called "Arcade." Habitués will know us by the popsicle-stick counter and the big block of ice. Just like last year, we'll be there April til October.

Prices haven't changed ($2.50 for shave ice, $3.50 for pops), and we'll still be vending at our other locations: the Brooklyn Fleas, the New Amsterdam Market, and hopefully the High Line (RFPs are due this week).

Opening flavors:

Blackberry & Sour Cherry

Plum, Yogurt & Tarragon

Blueberry-Jasmine

Strawberry-Basil

Plum & Blueberry

With customers showing up right at our 10 am opening last year for a taste of shave ice, it took just 5 hours to go through 150 pounds of ice--so show up early, say hi, and enjoy a shave on people's pops!

SEE YA THERE!!

!! Chelsea Market Opens Friday !!

2011-04-11T19:55:00.009-04:00

It was a bit of déjà vu when we found ourselves gluing pop sticks to plywood deep into the night this weekend. (Thankfully, this time, Nat wasn't nursing wounds from having been hit by a car earlier that day...viva 2011!)

Even though we were exhausted from a big-bang day at the Brooklyn Flea (we showed up at 9 a.m. in down jackets....and ended up at 5 p.m. sunburnt, sweating and sold out), we stopped by the brand-new brick-n-mortar location of our BkFlea compatriots Asiadog on Kenmare St for sustenance in hot dog form, then zoomed over to our buddy Robin's Greenpoint workshop.

We found our groove pretty quickly and got most of the glueing done that night. Robin's woodwork looks terrific. Now we only have 4,452,236 things left to do before we open on Friday. Stay tuned for more info about the launch!

Brooklyn Flea Debut This Weekend!

2011-03-31T22:17:00.004-04:00

Flavors Fresh Outta the Kitchen:

Blueberry-Jasmine

Strawberry w/ Organic Yogurt

Bartlett Pear, O-Cream and Ginger.

Come taste! Come celebrate! People's Pops 2011 is here!

Summer 2011: not far behind....

Saturday: Brooklyn Flea Ft. Greene

Sunday: all-new Brooklyn Flea Williamsburg Waterfront

FIRST BATCH OF POPS OF THE SEASON!!!

2011-03-30T16:04:00.004-04:00

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG we are back in the kitchen again. After a thorough remodel that included painting the floor, buying new freezers and hooking up unused gas lines, ‘tis the season…for the first pops of 2011! Yes, even though temps are in the flippin’ forties right now.The Brooklyn Flea debuts outside this weekend (as well as the new Williamsburg Flea, woot woot)….and who would recognize the Ft. Greene Flea without people’s pops!?!?!?!?!

We are working with frozen fruit again (from the same farmers from whom we buy in season) and are noting with happiness that even frozen, last year’s fruit is much better than 2009’s—no surprise there, but it’s good to see.

But the biggest upgrade for 2011 is our new, ten-year-old Brazilian pop-making machine—basically an alcoholic brine bath that freezes the pops much faster and, we hope, with more structural integrity.

We are experimenting with different mold shapes and are wondering what y’all think.

There's David with a blueberry-cream. Well, what do you think?!?!??!?!!

Okay, maybe we obsess over this kind of stuff way too much and are the only suckas who notice any difference in shape. (There is a slight one.) Let us know if YOU like it, or if you prefer the old mold shape. We’re still tinkering.

Or come by the Flea this weekend (Saturday or Sunday) to tell us in person….and taste the first people’s pops of 2011!! (Pops make a great accessory to snow.)

It's Still Winter, But We Can Smell Spring

2011-02-22T14:28:00.002-05:00

How utterly relaxing this winter was. After we shut down for the season, David went to Miami and played golf for a couple of months, Joel got engaged to Danielle and laid on the beach in Costa Rica, and I drank schnapps in Alsace and faithfully attended even my most appallingly boring micro-economics classes.

How distant that time now seems. Ever since the clock ticked 2011, we’ve been caught in a whirlwind of master planning. We’ve had a brainstorming session on “risk minimization,” plotting courses of action to navigate through the most debilitating catastrophes our nightmares could produce. We’re looking around for a bank to replace god-awful Chase, who I’m embarrassed after last year’s shit fit to admit we passively stuck with, like abused dogs who keep expecting doggie treats instead of pistol-whipping. We’ve had several exciting conversations about real estate with some potential landlords around town.

The awesome John Goodwin magicked us up an online stock-taking system that lives in the cloud, and we got all of our suppliers on one spreadsheet. We’ve started testing recipes for a book we’re working on. We bought a new van that does not have rust holes in the floorboards. We’re discussing the pros and cons of buying our first cash register and maybe some accounting software (whoo, look at us gettin’ all “modern!”). We are looking into the possibilities of offering ourselves and our full-time employees health care, and for the first time in the history of our lives, we turned our tax paperwork in early.

A lot of the backbone stuff we’re doing is more corporate than we’re used to—setting up structures, building systems, creating strategy and dreaming up super-ordinate goals. But it feels good to get organized, and the way we’re doing it feels right. We’re thinking critically, spending thriftily and making decisions by consensus, like we’ve always done.

And yet—how far we still have to go. We still don’t have a new bank, or real estate, or a cash register, or health care. But we’ve come a long way, and things are trucking forward smoothly. Stay tuned for new developments soon.

People's Pops Parties in Geneva

2010-12-22T14:41:00.002-05:00

In November, Red Jacket Orchards, our favorite fruit supplier, invited us up to the farm in Geneva, New York, for a post-season party. When we got there, they wasted no time in stuffing us with booze and casserole, so much so that we pretty much entirely forgot to take commemorative photos of the experience. We dimly remember a nighttime orchard tour, a sauna right off the dining room, a hot tub with a splendid view of lake Geneva, and a very contrary vending machine in the Ramada Hotel.

Many thanks to our benevolent hosts Joe Nicholson (a 2010 Jordi Top 10 Recipient!), Mike Biltonen, Justone Bossert, Adam Gordon and Wen-Jay Ying for an extremely fabulous time.

as David says: nothing makes you smile like fruit fresh off the tree

Joel, Mike and Adam

cool pattern the forklift made in the snow

we are so psyched!!

We Have Spare Time Now

2010-11-10T23:40:00.001-05:00

It's late at night but what a delight to actually have time to troll the internet for websites like wordle.net that will make pretty word clouds out of our blog's content. Whoo!!

Pained But Proud

2010-10-13T15:00:00.007-04:00

So ladies and gentlemen. Our shop closes on Oct 15 (this Friday) and our last day at the Flea is Saturday, Oct 16. Here we finally are, six months later and 17 years older and — lo and behold—we still have all of our fingers and all of our toes.

Sadly, Joel no longer has any feeling in his fingers. The calluses that formed on his hands as a result of yanking thousands of pops out of their molds, one at a dang time, have become too thick for his nervous system to detect. The good thing about this is that he no longer feels pain, like Ronald Niedermann in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

For his part, David has lost all feeling in his toes, having deadened his feet from excessive jamming on ghost brakes as Joel performed death-defying deeds like merging and accelerating whilst driving Porky. He is now inured to fear, like Taylor Swift.

And I no longer have a soul. A few weeks ago, I moved to New Orleans to start business school at Tulane and now spend my time mastering the finer points of strategic douchebaggery.

Although the grind and minutiae of the day-to-day often obscured our progress, we really kicked it up a notch this year. Unlike 2008, when we only operated on the weekends and kept somewhat in touch with our day jobs, this year, we dropped everything to man our tiny 170-sq-foot shop for 186 days straight. We fed pops to Alton Brown, George Stephanopolous, Rachael Ray, Sandra Bernhard, Maria the “Money Honey,” Jennifer Garner, the duder from MGMT, and his mom. We led tours of our business for Whole Foods staff, Brigham Young business students and local elementary schools. We had much better weather than last year, when it rained for 28 days in June. We hired some really awesome people and managed to pay them in currency that looked like something other than frozen 3-oz chunks of fruit on a stick. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Working in pops this summer felt like training for a triathlon, only pops were the new world order. Every day we got up weary, prepared for another beat-down: another broken part of the van, another broken part of the freezer, another broken part of our backs. Our days began early and ended late and had far too little beer in them. But there was also an uncommon vigor, an unabashed willingness to get our hands dirty, attention paid to putting out a good product and treating people well, and a belief in all of this as a medium for social/environmental change as well as pleasure.

Ice pops effecting change? Yes, if you think about the tens of thousands of pounds of local fruit used, the tens of thousands of dollars that stayed inside the local economy, and the fact that we were able to employ ten~~s of thousands of~~ good people to further these ends. Ice pops as pleasure? Yes, and the other pleasure was you, popsifans: regular customers like the security guard at the Apple store, the pregnant women who visited daily and talked to her belly as she ate pops, the guy who works upstairs compiling statistics for Major League Baseball, the mysterious man who took 12 pops home in a bag with him almost daily, the trio of chemists from the DEA lab around the corner, the Brooklyn Flea contingent we saw every week, rain or shine.

This summer involved a lot of pain. But it’s been our pleasure. The season's not even over and we're already hatching plans for next year. Despite it all, we can't wait for spring.

xoxoxo,

Joel, David & Nathalie

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, Watching the Tide Rooooll Away....

2010-10-01T18:18:00.015-04:00

As Season III of the People's Pops draws to a close, we'd like to do a little reminiscin'.
It seems like far more than eight months ago that.....

We started with this:

Did some of this:

First, it looked like this:

And then it looked like this:

In the meantime, there was a little bit of this:

And a little bit of this:

R.I.P. Shaba.

But we were psyched about this:

(Whole Foods)

And this:

(The High Line)

And this:

(getting a recipe published in Bon Appetit)

And this:

(partnering with Red Jacket Orchards)

And this:

(the free giveaway we put on for the launch of the Cooking Channel)

We did a lot of this:

We couldn't have done without this:

Charlie Stopek

Rue Snider

People's Pops Heart 'n' Soul:
Top row: Nick Moore, Danielle Fillmore, Joel Horowitz, Nathalie Jordi, Rue Snider, Sharlena Powell
Bottom row: David Carrell, Gasky Joseph, Lora Wallace

the surfer girl, 3 years old and going strong

In conclusion:

There are still 2 weeks to go until we shut down Chelsea Market (October 15). Get thee to the pop stand...the winter's gonna be a long one!

Best Fan Mail Ever

2010-08-29T20:26:00.005-04:00

One of the things that's most impressed me about our business over the last 3 seasons is our awesome ratio of fan mail to hate mail. Seriously, when do people ever take the time to write to someone they don't know other than when they're feeling angry, disappointed or stiffed?

Several times a week, though, people write to say they love our pops, and seriously, guys.....that really is what keeps us keepin' on.

We'll say it here: OUR POPSIFANS ARE THE BEST, EVER!

So in the interest of celebrating y'all, see below for some of the best mail of the past 3 summers.

Here's the first-ever letter we got, sent Aug 17, 2008, from a woman who's come pretty much every weekend since:

Hi! Just wanted to drop a note to let you know that you're doing AWESOME things and my boyfriend and I look forward to your popsicles every Sunday. Even when you aren't there!
Thanks, Meredith

Caroline Rogers of the beautiful Looks Good To Me made our day by sending us this gorgeous watercolor she drew from the inspiration of our pops at the DUMBO Flea. The shape is wrong, but I really love the way it looks.

This one made us feel like heroes:

Dear People's Pops,

I am writing to say thank you. I have an ulcer and I'm stuck on the acid reflux diet. Among other things, I can't eat dairy, citrus, chocolate, or spices. This summer has been hard - I'm so jealous when I see people walk around the city with their ice cream cones and cups of fro yo. I've also discovered that most ice pops in the store are made with lemon or lime juice. The only icy treat I've found to eat this summer is vanilla tofutti, which leaves much to be desired.

Long story short, the strawberry rhubarb people's pop I had today SAVED MY SUMMER!

Thank you!!

This rad-looking chick sent us a picture of herself in front of a snowscape. We liked it so much that we put it on the "Who We Are" page of our website.

From a chatty Cathy who befriended David one day....

Hi David,

how are things going?

I checked out the pear pop a few days ago and I loved it!

I am staying at Janos house in Ardley over the weekend (Dr.Janos Marton, director of the Living Museum, Queens), he lives in this incredible old beautiful old Victorian style Villa with dozens of rooms and antique furntiure and a steinway grand piano, and I am enjoying being here sitting on the Veranda surrounded by a huge beautiful magical garden with the smell of wonderful flowers, cardigan birds that are singing for me and others and working on my doctorate...playing in between with three perrot beauties and dogs and cats...life is just amazing......

Tomorrow I will move on to Williamsburg and spend some time in NYC in the evenings....I will go out with a formerly Miss Sweden and stone sculptor tomorrow evening, she fell in love with me and wants to take me out for dinner and then to the prescreening from a movie about Basquiat...how exciting! Friday my plane is going back- I am fullfilled with a lot of NY stories that are engraved in my heart.

Take a close eye onto yourself, keep your buisness running with ambition and passion!

Sincerely

R visiting from Switzerland

Lee Ann from Dallas was psyched:

I live in Dallas and am currently pregnant with our second child and in the middle of awful morning sickness. I am surviving on popsicles, and thinking every day about how wonderful your pops are. So, here's to hoping that you are someday soon in a Whole Foods or other venue within driving distance of Dallas. Until then, you will be a planned stop on all my future trips to NYC. There is nothing like your pops in the stores here..... Keep it up!

Lee Ann

Then there was this puzzling missive:

I had a blueberry and cream pop at the Chelsea Market back in June.

I wish I could have another, but unfortunately, I live many miles from there.

Perhaps I will visit again this summer and have another even though I know it will be a differetn flavor.

And who could forget the German tourist who hand-felted a People's Pop and sent us the photo:

Running a small business is BRUTAL. Every day, we have multiple moments when we wonder why we put up with the aggravation. When you write to tell us you love the pops, though, we remember why we do it, and....this makes everything worthwhile.

So thanks!!

In love & pops,

Joel, David & Nat

ADDENDUM 10/1/10

Following this post, popsifan Lia sent us this sweet pic:

Thanks Lia!!

People's Pops and Red Jacket Orchards, Sitting In A Tree

2010-08-23T00:37:00.006-04:00

If you pinned the fruit season to a mathematical curve, this might be kind of what it would look like. For most of the year, there's zilch--and then all of a sudden, le deluge.

People's Pops to the rescue!! We've teamed up with the heroes at Red Jacket Orchards, our favorite farmers at the NYC Greenmarket, to offer a collaboration that solves this oversupply issue, just in time for the height of summer. Here's how it goes:

Red Jacket sells us whatever fruit is at the absolute peak of its abundant season.
The diligent elves at People's Pops turn the fruit into ice pops (peach-basil, plum-blueberry).
Red Jacket takes the pops to the Greenmarket.
New Yorkers everywhere are seized by an exquisite happiness they can't quite identify the source of...
...until they walk through the Greenmarket and see the SWEET-ASS UMBRELLA shading the lucky pop vendor at the Red Jacket Orchards stands (our elves are jealous).

From now until the fruit runs out, find Red Jacket Orchards' People's Pops at the following Greenmarkets:

Monday: Union Square
Tuesday: Borough Hall
Wednesday: Union Square
Thursday: Bowling Green
Friday: Union Square
Saturday: McCarren Park
Sunday: Midwood.

Is this a marriage made in heaven, or what??

We think so.

People's Pops on the High Line!

2010-07-29T15:08:00.006-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, today's lesson: dreams do come true.

The first time I was ever on the High Line, the beautiful, re-purposed elevated railway-turned-greenway that runs up the west side of Chelsea, all I could think about was how much better-looking and happier everyone on the High Line would be if they were licking ice pops.

I can't help it, I think that way sometimes.

Ever since that first brilliant vision, we have been harassing the nice folks at the High Line to give us a chance to prove ourselves right, and they have finally done so. We are up there for 29 days (until Aug 20), from 12-9:30pm, and as it turns out, my surmise was correct. Everyone on the High Line armed with a pop or shave is better-looking, happier, or both.

My pictures aren't super good, so go and check it out for yourself! Sundown with a yellow plum & mint makes the quotidian a celebration.

Wacky But Worth It

2010-07-18T22:58:00.006-04:00

There are tons of things about our business that I lament us not having adequate time to plunge headlong into developing: an inventory system I can run on my iPhone, an automated payroll system that accounts for our highly irregular hours and staff, a more eco-friendly and attractive packaging solution….the list is a million miles long and growing every day. But I must say, the thing that goads me most unrelentingly is what to me represents the biggest of our many missed opportunities: our shop’s incredibly banal freezer display case.

Initially, we were hoping to have real pops on display behind the glass, but that dream quickly died after the lights at the top of our freezer kept melting them all down. So we whipped up a batch of wax pops and popped those in the case. It looks okay, but….

Ok, hear me out. Envision a world in which our freezer served as the stage for a fantastical diorama similar to the Washington Post’s extremely awesome annual Easter-time Marshmallow Peeps Contest. (Highlights from this year: “Where the Wild Peeps Are,” and “White House Party Peepers.” Seriously, check it out.) I mean, the glassed-in part of our freezer is 5’x 1’ x 1’… basically a few times the size of the shoeboxes with which we all made dioramas in elementary school. I have visions of scenes like “Ice Pops At The Beach” or “Ice Pops Hit The Disco.”

Joel jokes that the scenes should be true to life at the people’s pops, a retrospective of Summer 2010. Yeah boy. I can see it already. How about “Nat Getting Hit By A Car,” “Dave Nearly Getting Mugged While Van Shopping In Harlem,” “The Rhubarb Delivery Is Too Heavy To Get Off The Truck And Has To Return Upstate To The Farm,” or “The Fire Sprinkler In Our Freezer Explodes, Flooding The Entire Kitchen.”

Maybe depicting these scenes in miniature could bring us one step closer to being able to laugh at them. Is this art therapy?

Of course, we have no money to pay for a pop-themed diorama, and no time to do it ourselves either. But I always thought that it could be a fun project for an art school professor to give to his or her class, where everyone would get a month in the spotlight or whatever. Aren’t some people out there studying visual merchandising or window dressing and looking for experience, for something to put on their résumés? Or it could be a fun thing for an artist with too much time on their hands to quickly get a ton of exposure. A lot of people walk past our freezer case, and what’s a better example of public art than a sculpture in a pop shop?

So, people….who out there can make my dreams come true??

Seriously—email us at people[at]peoplespops.com if you have any ideas!!

The Three Stooges On Ice

2010-07-14T12:26:00.000-04:00

The number of ways in which this snippet eerily parallels our business is embarrassing...and hilarious.

Open Letter To The Worst Bank In The Known Universe

2010-07-10T20:03:00.011-04:00

Dear Chase,

YOU SUCK.

Why?

Ever since we opened our business bank account with you (see the hopefulness in our eyes on that very first day), you've done nothing but TREAT US LIKE SHIT.

We have no debt and impeccable personal credit. You started us on $500 worth of credit (for a BUSINESS!--my Amex gives me $10,000), citing our youth and inexperience. Since then, we have been good, responsible, solvent customers who pay bills on time and deposit money regularly. (Also, we are older!)

Every time we ask for more credit, you turn us down. We STILL have only $500 of credit.

You’ve turned down every loan for which we’ve ever applied, and as well as every line of credit (including one through the so-called Small Business Association).

You charge us for withdrawing change (hello, we run a retail shop).

Most egregiously, you ALSO charge us every time we DEPOSIT over $10,000 a month. Yes, Chase Bank, YOU MAKE US PAY TO GIVE YOU MONEY.

This month, you charged us $60 just to withdraw and deposit money.

Your customer service is also appalling. Your employees don’t know your own rules and your managers can’t explain them.

Let me sum this up here. We are a successful, growing, three-year-old business with $500 worth of credit that gets charged to deposit money.

Thanks for ^%$&% NOTHING!

Sincerely,
Nathalie, David and Joel

p.s. See you at HSBC.

Some Thoughts On Strategy

2010-07-03T11:35:00.004-04:00

In other big news for the week: Inc. magazine put us on the list of Brooklyn's Best Entrepreneurs, alongside a privileged cohort composed of the likes of Brooklyn Brewery, Etsy, Steiner Studios.....what? If this continues, we're actually going to start taking ourselves seriously!!

We're a little baffled by the attention. Last week, we got an email from a professor at Brigham Young University who was taking a group of business students to New York and wanted to know if we'd be willing to take a few minutes to talk about "the strategy behind People's Pops as an emerging brand."

Strategy? Is that what's happening while we're drinking wine on the sidewalk as we paint our sandwich boards? (one of which was stolen off 15th street today, btw, so if you see it, tackle the mofo!)

We like being flattered, so we said yes, and after a long day in the kitchen, I sped over to the shop, spattered with raspberry juice and the rotten pong of things left perennially undone. The nineteen students--clean-cut, well-mannered, inquisitive--had spent their morning at American Express and their afternoon at Johnson & Johnson. They looked at me and David expectantly. I told them our story, all of it--of how making pops for a one-day market with my prom date and his roommate most unexpectedly turned into a vibrant, dynamic business (manufacturing, retail, wholesale, catering) that, daily for the past three summers, has had us toeing the delicate balance between euphoria and despair ever so unpleasantly schizophrenically.

There's no secret, or if there is, it's still unknown to us, too. Our story works because it's actually a true and believable story, not something a marketing executive had to dream up. Our product works because it's carefully made using quality stuff. Our business works because we treat our suppliers, our customers, our employees and ourselves with respect, trust and affection. (And because we work our asses off.) The hype? I have no idea where it comes from, but I'm grateful for it. I'd like to think it's due to the reasons above--is that unrealistic?

The business school students had polite, pointed questions: "Have you considered franchising?" "Can you identify your most persistent bottlenecks?" "Will you be taking on investors?" I answered them to the best of my ability, knowing that sounder, more measured business owners would have spent time actually talking to each other about things like this. We don't, because anytime we come close to having 30 seconds to take a macro look at the business, the freezer fails and the van overheats.

So the monster grows, and we just try to keep up: that's our strategy. But I feel good about how, despite everything, we continue being capable of keeping the most important things about our business intact: good local fruit, happy customers, and having fun with each other. Actually, wait: maybe that's our strategy.

Our T-shirts have arrived!!

2010-06-30T21:10:00.010-04:00

Although Rue is smiling ultra-uncomfortably, our *brand-new* t-shirts are actually ultra-comfortable....the American Apparel cotton/poly blend. We're selling them for $20 and have unisex sizes S, M, L and XL.

For this, many thanks to awesome UT Austin art professor Jason Urban, who sketched the yellow pop on the design at left. We saw this incredible t-shirt he did for Threadless, and asked him to work with us, and to our great delight, he agreed!!

Many thanks to Brooklyn screenprinter Crown Prints for their good work, too. Next stop: tote bags?

People's Pops (TM) No-Fail Diet

2010-06-17T22:06:00.006-04:00

My cousin recently saw this picture in Julia Moskin's recent New York Times story on shave ice and told me, basically, to stop, sit down and eat a sandwich.

It's true. While I haven't exactly been mistaken for Kate Moss yet, I am definitely channeling a Giada-big head in the pic. And yesterday when I left my apartment in a big rush (as usual) I had to make a U-turn a minute later to change my pants, which were literally falling off my hips.

In fact, we've all lost weight, partially because we're racking our brains over what the hell to do this winter. So that's why we have decided to market, once the ice pop season ends, the People's Pops No-Fail Diet (TM). It goes like this:

Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Work every single day from dawn to midnight.
Forget to eat.

Between freezers on the fritz, vans on the fritz, and employees on the fritz....as David put it in a text message last night, "We're really pioneering new ways to lose money."

It's okay, New York City. We've still got the essentials: two arms, two legs and a nicely toned set of asses from all the heavy lifting. And as Joel responded to David's text last night, "I like making lifelong friends the hard way."

Awww.

German tourist: Felted a People's Pop at Home

2010-06-06T11:37:00.002-04:00

We get some pretty far-out emails, but this one took the cake. It was from a nice woman named Anna Franziska, and its entire contents are in the subject line above. Attached was this picture:

What could be a better thing to find in your inbox on a Sunday morning??

Thanks Anna Franziska! You made our day!

We're in Whole Foods!!

2010-06-04T10:46:00.009-04:00

Okay, truth: we're in one Whole Foods (in the gelato case of the one on 97th and Columbus).

But still!

It may have taken three years, but we finally feel like this:

Flavors this week:

Rhubarb & Mint
Strawberry - Basil
Plum & Sour Cherry

Joel will be in the shop doing a little demo tomorrow from 4-8 pm. Upper West popsi-fans, go in and high-five him! He will be wearing Hammer pants!!

HOW PSYCHED ARE WE????

Cease and Desist!!

2010-05-29T13:33:00.008-04:00

A rather terrifying letter recently burst the bubble of good vibes that has surrounded our shop since we opened.

“This law firm acts as outside trademark counsel to Unilever Supply Chain, Inc., and its affiliates (“Unilever”),” the letter said. “Because POPSICLE® is Unilever’s registered trademark Unilever must request that you replace all of the references to ‘popsicle’ and ‘popsicles’…with proper generic terminology such as ‘ice pop(s).’ We ask that you please provide us with written confirmation of your compliance with the foregoing by Friday, May 7, 2010.”

Well, okay.

Here’s the story of POPSICLE®.

In 1905, eleven-year-old Frank Epperson fixed himself some powdered soda and water and left the container outside with the stirring stick still in it. That unusually cold night in San Francisco, the mixture froze, and the first-ever “Epsicle” was born. Eighteen years later, now in Alameda, Epperson started selling “The Frozen Drink on a Stick!” at Neptune Beach. He applied for a patent a year later and sold the rights to what he now called “Popsicles” another year later (1925), to the Joe Lowe Company in New York. Over time, they became so iconic that during World War II the Eighth Air Force Unit chose them as the symbol of American life. Over the last eighty-five years, the horse-drawn cart that sold POPSICLES® to schoolchildren in Nebraska (also carrying the first ice-cream man!) has morphed into a veritable fleet of trucks that cover the land selling water, high fructose corn syrup, gums, colorants and preservatives to people, young and old, all over the country.

In 1989, Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever, bought the rights to POPSICLE®.

Today, two billion POPSICLE® ice pops are sold annually.

The End.

Sort of.

In June 2008, Joel, David and I decided to see what ice pops made using local fruit in season might taste like, and, sort of by accident, subsequently began making on a regular basis what we called people’s popsicles. We got rubber stamps made with the name, and stamped our sticks with them. As time elapsed and the pops became a regular gig, we bought the domain name peoplespopsicle.com and got business cards made. Et cetera.

Shortly thereafter, we figured out that POPSICLE® was a trademarked term. So we switched gears: bought peoplespops.com and, when we formed as an LLC in 2009, did so under that name. But we’d been lazy about using the word “popsicle” on our blog. Can you blame us? I mean, at this point POPSICLE® is such a ubiquitous word that it rolls off the tongue more easily than “ice pop.” It’s like Kleenex®, or Xerox®—pervasive to the point of generic.

But it isn’t generic. And there’s the rub. Not only is Unilever the only party legally allowed to use the word POPSICLE® for anything, they are also legally obliged to defend any infringement on their trademark if they hope to keep it. As my friend Adam Prizio explained to me (his law practice, Law for Food, specializes in helping food producers and farmers): the law is concerned with the situation in which somebody might be confused into believing that People’s Pops are a Unilever product, and there are lots of reasons why Unilever wouldn’t want that. “It’s a problem,” Adam said, “because the term has entered into the vernacular but retains its status as a trademark. So an odd consequence of this situation is that I think you can buy things called ‘popsicle sticks’ but you can’t make ‘popsicles’ with them for commercial use.” Although the trademark has largely been genericized, it’s nevertheless still enforceable within the commercial sector in which it originated. And in fact it must be enforced, unless Unilever wants to risk losing the trademark, which for two billion reasons each year, they obviously don’t. The expense of taking us to court, if it came to that, is fully worth it to them.

To us, it isn’t. So we replaced every “popsicle” on our blog with “ice pop,” a task made easier by the fact that Unilever’s lawyers had FedExed us 17 pages of our blog with every infringement circled. We repainted the word “popsicle” on the back wall of our shop and cut the –icle off our rubber stamp.

Look at us, threatening the big boys! Don’t worry. We promise, whatever they’re called, our ice pops still taste better.

POSTMORTEM 06/01/10:

Wow, did this post get snapped up by the media.

Bloomberg
Grub Street
Gothamist
Village Voice

(New York Magazine)

And look what else we found flaunting Unilever's dictates!

Damned If You Do...

2010-05-23T15:38:00.004-04:00

(This post was republished on the Atlantic Monthly's website here on June 10, 2010.)

Back a few months ago, when we were getting ready for the season, we did a bunch of research on packaging. We knew that unlike last year, when we packaged the pops in bulk in waxed paper (we were just doing markets then), this year we would need to switch on the professionalism, which meant individually packaging our pops for both retail and wholesale.

We really wanted to use some kind of “green” packaging—because god knows the world does not need more plastic—but the problem with the compostable stuff on the market right now is that it’s high in what’s called “water vapor transmission,” which it needs to be in order to decompose. Unfortunately, pops left to their own devices love nothing more than to shed moisture content as fast as inanimate objects possibly can (it’s called “freezer burn,” and if you’re not using gums and preservatives, it happens fast).This means we need a packaging solution that’s ultra low in water vapor transmission—which, as far as I know, knocks the compostable stuff out of the running. That’s the trade-off for not using preservatives in our pops: it seems like we have to resort to plastic to package them.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Beyond just its chemical properties, the other problem with corn-based compostable packaging, which to my understanding is most of what’s available in this country, is that, while it doesn’t depend as heavily on petroleum as plastics do, the genetically modified (what else is there?) corn used to make it is heavily fertilized with chemicals that are derived from petroleum. So the deception is just one layer removed.

Not to make plastic per se any less evil, BUT as Tom Outerbridge reminded me, most plastics are a byproduct of petroleum refining, so it’s not as though more or less oil will be drilled depending on demand for packaging. Furthermore, there are conflicting reports about the impact of producing plastic vs. biodegradable packaging. “To produce a film plastic material from trees is incredibly energy intensive, and Eucalyptus trees have their own mixed reputation as water-sucking poor-habitat-producing species, ” said Outerbridge, who established New York City’s composting program during his tenure at the Department of Sanitation and now works for a recycling company. A biodegradable bag in landfill may even produce more methane than a plastic landfill. Plastic does also produce methane as it biodegrades, but more slowly, over 450 years. (Again, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.) Still, Outerbridge concludes: “If you knew the pulp was coming from a sustainable forest and you could direct the package at the end of its life to a composting system, I expect that would be preferable.”

So….in the end, we bought plastic. Incidentally, it costs about half as much. We would've shelled out for better, but better didn't seem to exist. And in my defense, I thought we’d be able to recycle the plastic, and for weeks saved our spent wrappers for the recycling bin. Then I found out that once at the recycling facility, they were promptly separated out and carted off to the landfill. Foiled again!

It’s hard to recycle plastic in this town. The Whole Foods in Chelsea has a “Gimme 5” bin which is for #5 plastic; bottles, yogurt cups, etc.—but thin bags like ours don’t qualify. Outerbridge notes that in principle, polypropylene is a recyclable plastic, but polypro bags are not recyclable in terms of recycling programs available to New Yorkers, or most curbside recycling programs. Plastic cups may eventually be allowed in the NYC curbside recycling program if the City passes the new recycling law under consideration (up for review this summer/fall), but for our wrappers, there is no answer, for the foreseeable future anyway.

I can’t think of a way to tie this post up neatly. Seriously, people of the world—scientists, lawmakers, consumers, farmers, —what are we supposed to do?

Our Celebrity Twins, According to Mike at United

2010-05-06T18:58:00.009-04:00

For going on three summers now, we've had an early morning date every Saturday and Sunday with Mike, our dry ice supplier.

Mike has seen the three of us in all kinds of guises: ebullient, downcast, tired, hungover, fired-up, chipper, and most frequently, still a little drunk. His mien is always constant: a sort of Godfather-esque, strictly-business gruffness that melts into a rusty sort of charm when we show up.

Among his many quirks: he thinks Joel looks like Jeff Goldblum, Dave looks like Quentin Tarantino, and that I look like Helen Hunt.

Is he wrong? Not really. Especially when it comes to Joel.

Joel, admit it already!

Don't worry, we all think you are much handsomer than Jeff Goldblum!!

He's started making our receipts out to our doppelgängers, which makes me stupidly happy.

Hey, don't judge. Y'all get to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We gotta get our kicks somewhere.

This Weekend Is Gonna Be Big

2010-04-30T16:22:00.005-04:00

Nice little New York Times piece about us and our rawkin' Brooklyn Fleamates Salvatore Bklyn, Porchetta and Pizza Moto.

And while we're at it, check out this other New York Times piece about the benefits of shave ice before exercising: To Beat The Heat, Drink A Slushie First.

See you at the Flea and Chelsea Market this weekend! If you stop by, give Dave a high-five for having QUIT HIS JOB today to devote himself to People's Pops FULL-TIME!!!!

(Joel and I are VERY excited).

Ice pop flavors at Chelsea Market:

Blackberry & Cream
Straight-up Raspberry
Blackberry Jasmine
Rhubarb, Cream and Cinnamon
Apricot & Caramel

Ice pop flavors at Brooklyn Flea

2-tone RhubarbGinger and Sour Cherry
Damson Plum and Spearmint
Raspberry & Basil

Shave ice:

Organic Lemon
Plum

Amanda's Big Day

2010-04-28T22:58:00.002-04:00

Note that Amanda is eating an ice pop. 'Nuff said?
(courtesy of Huffpo's 11 Funniest Unintentionally Sexual Book of All Time).

Even At An Early Age....

2010-04-26T13:41:00.006-04:00

.....Nat liked her pops.

(added 6/7: apparently, Joel and his sister liked pops too!)

Photos from the Flavor Lab

2010-04-23T10:48:00.002-04:00

Joel & Danielle's work this week: ain't it beautiful??

From left to right:

Blackberry & X-tra Organic Cream
Plum, Organic Yogurt & Tarragon
Straight-Up Raspberry
Rhubarb, Organic Cream & Cinnamon
Blackberry & Jasmine.

Look for them at the Fleas and at Chelsea Market this weekend!!

Our Shop in Chelsea Market Is Finally Open!

2010-04-22T23:30:00.013-04:00

We're here! We're here we're here we're here!! We're finally heeeeere!!!!

It's been a long time coming, but our shop in Chelsea Market has finally opened its doors, right on point for summer.

The response so far has been fantastic. One of our Twitter tweeps, who follows us even though she lives in California, came in with her family 'cause she happened to be in town. Several people who work in the building have come by for a pop every day since we opened. Our Manhattan-dwelling Brooklyn Flea customers are psyched to access pops midweek, all day, whenever. Our neighbors, particularly at Lucy's Whey, Bar Suzette, Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Gramercy Park Flower Shop, Jacques Torres, and One Lucky Duck have been overwhelmingly welcoming. David's and Nathalie's parents both sent potted plants on opening day, but Joel's parents, who live in Chicago, took the cake by showing up unannounced at the market on opening day!

We feel right at home....

Here's what the press has to say about our Chelsea Market shop opening:

New York Times
Tasting Table
Huffington Post
Time Out New York
Our recipe for rhubarb ice pops in New York Magazine
New York Daily News
Serious Eats
NY Mag's Grub Street
Eater
Time Out New York Kids
New York Metromix
Markets of New York
Lickin' It
NYT-The Local
Gail Simmons' ice cream faves in AM New York
Atlantic Monthly website

If you haven't come by yet.....what are you waiting for??

Here are a few of the flavors we've cooked up for this week/weekend.

Spiced Rhubarb
Blackberry & Lemon Verbena
2-tone Blackberry & Sour Cherry
Plum, Organic Yogurt and Tarragon (this one's the JAM!! Go Joel!)
Raspberry & cream

And the best news we've heard in a long time...real-live rhubarb has been spotted at the farmer's market. If that don't herald the growing season, we don't know what does!

See you this weekend at the Brooklyn Flea as usual.....and at Chelsea Market!!!

R.I.P. Shaba

2010-04-20T22:46:00.019-04:00

I'd like to take some time this week to talk about vans.

A few days ago, on the West Side Highway, I totaled our trusty old Shaba. She'd been with us for about a year. Dave and Joel bought her off of a sketchy Craigslist character we call the Flesh Dealer, who allegedly used it to transport women to and from massage parlors. I'm not even exaggerating--these were his words. We bought her for $2000.

The picture above was taken a few days after we bought Shaba, when she broke down for the first time. There would be many others.

We had some great times with Shaba, so named because when we bought her there was a sticker on the passenger airbag that said "Shaba the Great."

The picture below was taken as the tow driver took her away to the junkyard, moments before the street cleaning cops arrived.

Here's another little picture of Shaba, just for rememberance's sake.

Our new van ($1,500) has 280,000 miles on her and a hole in the passenger seat floorboard (I sit mostly in the passenger seat now) from which I can see asphalt coursing by. She doesn't go above 40 miles an hour, and came with a sticker that said "Porky," so that's what we've calling her.

Within 36 hours of owning Porky, we'd amassed 6 parking tickets, to the tune of $680. The first was for not having pasted lettering with our business name and address on the doors. As Joel was remedying this very problem with acrylic adhesive lettering in the hardware store parking lot, he received a second ticket for the same offense. The third ticket was because the letters are 2 inches high rather than 3 inches. And so on.

I'd rail on New York City's cops awhile, but given that they saved me from both a bike accident and a car accident this week, I'll keep my mouth shut.

After Sunday's market at One Hanson, Joel went back to the van to find one of the tires completely bust. He replaced it with the spare, which was, as it turns out, a different size from the other tires and made a rubbing noise against the wheel well every time he changed lanes or turned.

After a few hundred dollars of work and several trips to Purgatory (a.k.a. the DMV) Porky passed NYS inspection yesterday.

Welcome, Porky! R.I.P. Shaba.

Pops and Panic Attacks

2010-04-09T02:05:00.012-04:00

I moved back to New York City seven days ago today, and here's what my keychain looks like already.

It's been a very full week.

We got our worker's comp set up, touched base with the Dept. of Ag & Markets, and received our keys to Chelsea Market (which account for only two of the above).

We argued over how to display our pops in the five-foot freezer case that was delivered today and discussed the pros and cons of using an iPad as our cash register.

We nearly took a hammer to our printer, which won't print, even after several hours of cajoling.

We picked up thyme from the Greenmarket, ginger beer from the folks at Brooklyn Soda Works (rhubarb and ginger beer?) and bonbons from Daniel at Fine & Raw (strawberry and chocolate?) with which to screw around in the flavor lab.

We ordered stools, bought paint and stamped pop sticks.

Tonight, we spent hours looking for parking in the East Village, then threw our hands up, drove back to Brooklyn and took the train home.

And we made pops for the first time this season, out of frozen fruit. To mixed results.

The rhubarb worked great, as did the blackberries and raspberries, but we were so unhappy with the strawberry & cream pops we made (bland, shardy, worthless) that we threw them out. We've never had to do that with a batch of pops, ever. That was a dark day.

Oh yeah, that same day, I got hit by a car.

Those are the nice cops who drove me and my busted bike back to work.

Suffice it to say, it has been a week during which zen moments have been somewhat elusive. Which is why we've particularly relished the task above, which has kept us busy for four nights: glueing pop sticks to the plywood frontage of our kiosk. The repetitive act is strangely soothing, and it's a good time for us to unwind, brainstorm and be with each other. It's starting to look damn good, too (time-lapse to come)

Seven days to go. And then the real hard work begins.

It Takes a Village

2010-04-03T01:42:00.021-04:00

Our new shop opens in two weeks. As you can imagine, it's been a frenzied last few months, and for everything we've gotten accomplished, two more things to do pop up in its wake. It's like playing that arcade game where hippos pop out of holes and you have to punch them back in, and as you slowly get the hang of it, the hippos start coming faster and faster until you LOSE YOUR MIND.

Some people manage to hang onto businesses all by themselves, but there are three of us. Wait, who am I kidding? There are far more than three of us. It really DOES take a village to raise...a pop shop.

Despite her long-guaranteed membership in our highly exclusive Free-Pops-For-Life Club (of which most other members share our last names), our recently degreed friend Judy "Pooty" Goodwin, Esq. acted kindly as pro bono lease-reviewing lawyer. Internet genius Todd Shaffer took our website (have you seen it yet? www.peoplespops.com!!) from dead to live, and Robin Hiner is building a top-notch bespoke counter for our shop. Expert foragers Annie Myers, Johanna Kolodny, Katy McNulty and her boyfriend Jonathan helped us track down frozen fruit with which to start our season, and our new Chelsea Market neighbors Amy Thompson and Mary Cleaver generously helped us track down kitchens. Sergio Hernandez offered some deep insights into the business of running a business, as did Daryl Hanna. Angelic Pam at Progressive got us a sweet deal on van insurance, although this only somewhat makes up for how gouged we're getting on business insurance. The talented Jason Urban dreamed up some t-shirts that we can't wait to see in the flesh (stay tuned!), and Christopher Sloboda managed to design a logo that all three of us can wrap our heads around:

What do you think????

We've ordered bags, molds, labels, and started stamping pop sticks--so far, Joel is 996 ahead of me and David. (Yes, he counted. Back from 1000.) We applied for a line of credit, designed a look for our shop, and filled out our 2009 business tax return. Ol' Shaba is back on the road, shiny new plates, registration and all. Dave and Joel detailed her up and even got a spare tire. She and I will be gunning up north tomorrow to buy some frozen Hudson Valley berries with which to start the season before fresh fruit walzes back into town.

On Tuesday, we make the first pops of 2010. Look out for something involving rhubarb and strawberries sourced from Beth's Farm Kitchen, and through Jim Hyland of Winter Sun Farms, we've also got our hands on some of last year's precious organic blackberries and raspberries from Stone Ledge Farm in Cairo, NY. Using frozen fruit is a bit of a departure for us--traditionally, our season doesn't start until fresh fruit comes into town--but this year's reality is that we start writing rent checks on April 15 and need to have something to show for it. It will be interesting to see whether there's a difference between pops made from frozen or fresh fruit, but given that, after all, our pops are themselves a frozen product, we've made peace with the idea.

And this weekend: the triumphant release of People's Pops 3.0!!

Come see us Saturday as the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene returns outside, and on Sunday's Brooklyn Flea at One Hanson , a brand-new spot for us.

We'll post this week's flavors once we've thunk 'em up.

CHELSEA OR BUST!

2010-03-31T13:16:00.002-04:00

Guys, the suspense is over...we're finally ready to announce our BIG NEWS:

PEOPLE'S POPS IS COMING TO CHELSEA MARKET!

As of April 15, you can find us in Chelsea Market's new-ish "Arcade", surrounded by such illustrious neighbors as Lucy's Whey, Jacques Torres and One Lucky Duck. We'll be right in front of the new set of doors on 15th street between 9th and 10th avenue...check us out!

More news to come shorly....things are a-boilin' at the flavor lab!!

Nathalie Attends The North American Pizza and Ice Cream Trade Show

2010-03-01T11:58:00.009-05:00

I know it’s a funny thing to say, but I’m totally hooked on trade shows that target the food industry. In Paris, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, I’ve seen the future, and it’s a car crash I can’t but stop to watch.

It looks like this:

• Fake bacon made of chicken
• Japanese drinkable ice cream
• Floppy milk chocolate “slices,” kind of like Kraft singles, but cocoa-flavored and Israeli
• Credit-card-sized cookies to keep in your wallet
• Vacuum-packed salad that releases gelled vinaigrette pearls
• Freeze-dried mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce
• Grated ketchup.

Grated ketchup! It’s for real!!

So I was delighted to hear about the North American Pizza and Ice Cream Show in Columbus, Ohio last weekend, particularly when I learned which pop suppliers would be in attendance. Here was my chance to finally see in the flesh machines that I had only previously fantasized about late at night, toggling between refrigeration-specification websites, PDFs in Chinese and Google Translate.

Despite the fact that most East-Coasters think that the middle of the country is one long strip mall best seen from the air (ignoring the incontrovertible fact of New Jersey), I thought Columbus actually had a lot going for it. We went to the Surly Girl bar, which has a great selection of local and woman-brewed beers. I tried Columbus-style pizza, which is thin-crusted and cut into squares. Some nice guy, seeing us rooting around for parking-meter nickels, quietly handed us an unsolicited quarter. However you want to knock it down, Columbus has an old-school letterpress, at least one artisan baker, a dealer of new and used fountain pens, a decent vintage clothes scene, a European-style food hall, and a big Baptist church that someone’s turned into a bar.

What’s not to like about all that?

The trade show, too, hit all the right buttons. Seminars covered topics like, “Crafting a Flavor Assault,” “What is Frozen Yogurt?”, and “The Best…or Just Darn Good…Ice Cream.” (I really wish I could have attended the last one, if only to understand which of the two the presenter meant to discuss.)

(also puzzling)

I strode through aisles of people selling insulated pizza carriers, bulk chicken wings, slush machines, Coca-Cola fountains, neutral sherbet base, bake-able “Ordervs,” and pizza-delivery iPhone apps.

Vendors advertised Yo-Mazing Dreamsicle flavor additive, world-class corrugated packaging, 100% dairy-free “cream,” breakfast pizzas (“Cash in on the Most Important Meal of the Day!”), text-message marketing, supposedly “organic” flavorings (100% artificially made), Yo-Cream University (a two-day course or frozen-yogurt store owners) and a chemical called Grease Gobbler X-Treme.

The exhibitors had names like Emulso Corp, Mimiccreme (which makes Mimiccreme Sugar Free Sweetened Soft Serve Ice Cream Base,) and the Brutally Honest Kick Butt Quick Service Restaurant Marketing System, which sells I have no idea what.

Some guy tried to sell me a huge Thunderbird dough mixer and, when I wasn’t interested, offered to sell me a copy of his self-published science fiction romance novel.

Natural-gas company representatives offered free massages.

I saw one type of “neutral base” that many industrial pops are made from, and I believe it involved lard. Apparently, it improves mouthfeel. Clearly, the use of roasted peach pulp, strawberries or cream towards this purpose has not been fully explored.

I was told by everyone with whom I spoke that if we ever want our pops to have shelf life, preservatives are an inevitability. And the compostable packaging we were investigating will hasten freezer burn—good ol’ made-of-petroleum polypropylene is the way to go.

I was told that artificial flavors make pops that taste better than pops made with real fruit.

And I spent several hours playing with our dream pops machine.

Although its representatives offered a significant buy-today discount, Joel and David and I ultimately decided not to buy the machine, even though we’ve spent the winter drooling over it. We just can’t afford it right now—or rather, we have other priorities.

The representative took it in stride. “I know you’ll be back,” he said. “And even though you’re tiny compared to everyone else we deal with, you guys are going to work out. You’re doing your homework. I like to see it.” Oddly, his vote of confidence meant a lot to me.

As I left the convention, my head swimming, I passed a sign on the way to the airport that said “THE DICTIONARY IS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE SUCCESS COMES BEFORE WORK.” We have less than two months before pop season officially begins.

Rest assured that we will be hard at work, Crafting a Flavor Assault.

What We've Been Up To

2010-02-10T12:42:00.022-05:00

Our van has been spending a quiet winter upstate with Joel's girlfriend Danielle's generous grandmother Nana:

David: "What came first, the van or the garage?"

I'm not kidding when I say that air literally had to be taken out of the tires in order to fit the van in there.

Here's what happened last time we took the van out:

**** ***** ****

So, what have we been up to since you last heard from us?

Well, other than celebrating Mardi Gras:

We've been researching plastics:

And the possibility of outsourcing our painstaking pop-stick-stamping process:

Unfortunately, the smallest possible one-time order is for 13,200,000 sticks.

We've been crunching numbers:

And pushing pop frontiers:

Joel: "What if we just made a pop out of just ICE???"

Here's Joel explaining our new Thai play-toy.

We made into Karen Seiger's wonderful Markets of New York City, published by the Little Bookroom.

Lots more going on, but nothing we're ready to talk about just yet. Just rest assured that we're fantasizing about warmer days...

Love,
David, Joel, Nathalie

p.s. Anyone interested in trading pops for a better-looking website should feel free to contact us. We may be looking to outsource that, too.
p.p.s. Anyone going to the North America Pizza and Ice Cream Trade Show in Columbus this weekend? Holla!

Happy Holidays, Ya'll!

2009-12-23T16:18:00.007-05:00

Thanks for a fantastic 2009! Can't wait to see you in '10...

See you next year!!

2009-11-03T09:55:00.005-05:00

Thanks for a great season, y'all.

Even Martha couldn't keep her hands off a pop last weekend!

We are taking a month off to refuel and then getting our heads together to plan Ice Pop World Domination 2010. Anyone with a brain for business is welcome to contact us, we could use it.

Thanks so much for your support this year, we couldn't have done it without you.

In love and pops,
Joel, David, Nathalie

2009: A Retrospective

2009-09-25T11:00:00.006-04:00

We think this may be our last weekend on the market for 2009. Which is why I should be sleeping instead of still up at 3 a.m., nostalgic, posting pictures. For your visual enjoyment, here's a rollback on the summer.

That's me.

See?

Test batch in the home kitchen.

Daryl, the official taste buds of the people's pops, pronounces on an early batch.

The day that the boys introduced me to the van they'd sunk our savings into, it broke down.

Perhaps that was why, despite the obvious effort the boys put into their appearance (dressed up as twins, mailmen), Chase only extended our new business a $500 credit limit, which still hasn't budged.

Joel putting final touches on the pop stick (see below).

And the boy knows his way around a jig saw.

Nathalie is less hi-tech.

Site of one executive board meeting. Why yes, it is July, and cold, and grey. Welcome to summer 2009.

Shaving ice all summer has turned our right arms into, like, twice the size of our left arms.

This guy came back three times! Almost as cool as the war veteran.

Fierce sunburn in the making.

No this is not a Zamboni cleaning the ice after disco night at the local rink.

Love in the van. And, for some reason, money.

The best-looking customers we served all year.

Flashback to 2008!!

So much about this picture is wrong. Or right. No, wrong.

Nat.

Dave, eating 2 pops at once.

This chick gets free pops for life!!

Seriously--our hero!!!

Kids manage to turn dark-colored pops into a crime scene. This turned into carnage about 30 seconds after this picture was taken. Poor kid looked like he'd been savaged by a wolf.

This lil' lady sure knows how to accentuate her watermelon shave ice.

Another one with a promising future in accessorizing.

Never quite got a satisfying answer to this question. But not a week goes by without someone asking for a cornsicle. Still not sure how to interpret that.

Finally, a lovely message from Joel's lovely mama, Barbara.

Catch us one last time at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene on Saturday and DUMBO on Sunday, weather permitting.

We'll be taking:

--blackberries & cream
--raspberry
--cantaloupe & basil

and

watermelon shave ice!

If you've been meaning to get pops delivered to your home or office this season but haven't gotten around to ordering, it's not too late...email us quickly before stock runs out!

Howdy, Daily News'ers!

2009-09-21T06:58:00.005-04:00

Big thanks to Margarida Correia for the pleasant article about us in today's Daily News. She was kind enough to find us at the Brooklyn Flea, try one of our pops, then interview us in a friends donated back yard: mind you, Joel had no voice and Nathalie was answering questions via telephone from Copenhagen – but that's how we roll.

And thanks for stopping by our stands this past weekend at the Brooklyn Flea's, NYC'ers! While our pop-season is slowing down, we're steal a few more fire-sale days from Mother Nature. So keep checking in for our next appearance & flavors!

xo,
pp

We've come a long way, baby!

2009-09-08T19:30:00.015-04:00

So Sunday is the 2009 incarnation of the New Amsterdam market, which our most ancient fans (hi, mom!) will remember as the explosive birth of the People's Pops. Like all births, it was both excruciating and triumphant. But the pain outweighed the pleasure just enough for us to follow through and turn it into a business, and to everyone's surprise, but especially our own, WE HAVE!!

Not bad for a gander that was just supposed to be a one-day social experiment.

So join us this Sunday Sept 13 at the Fulton Fish Market from 11-4 to celebrate the brilliant future of New Amsterdam.

And pops.

I'm feeling nostalgic, so here's a little taste of last year at the New Amsterdam. That seems like it happened about 10 years ago!

From the first batch of pops ever. Rhubarb burns so goddamn easily.

In awe of our creations!

Why the hell would they have frozen that way? And can we pretend it happened on purpose?

More importantly, how do they taste?

Well, people seem interested, at any rate.

Oh, Lucy. We miss you, girl.

I don't know if you can see it, but that horizontal sign says "Lap Dances by Dave, $5." I still wonder whether that's the direction the business should have taken.

We'll also be at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturday and Sunday, except that on Sunday, exceptionally, the Flea will happen under the Manhattan Bridge rather than under the Brooklyn Bridge.

If you come, say hi to Steve, our colleague in pops, who's coming all the way up from Athens, Georgia to spend time with us this weekend!

Where’s my F$@#ing Cantaloupe & Tarragon pop?1!?

2009-09-04T17:43:00.008-04:00

Look we’ve all feeling a little overworked and underappreciated this summer. Ca$h Money Chamillionaire Warren Buffett describes this as an economic Pearl Harbor. December 2007 to today, will be hundreds of days that will all live in equal amounts of infamy. But in these tough economic times a sleeping giant has been awoken: people’s pops.

You may be wondering to yourself, your coworkers, friends, frenemies, and the World Wide Web: Where’s my f&*@ing Peach, Organic Yogurt & Honey pop?!!?!11

Well the boys down in research have come up with an answer to your question in the form of a map (the red dot indicates where you can find us):

Being the hard workers that we are, we took this map over to the boys at the crime lab and asked them to enhance image. They just weren’t getting it so we had to keep asking them to enhance image, and enhance image. Finally we got an adequately enhanced image:

A. Sundays at the Brooklyn Bridge Flea in DUMBO
B. Saturdays at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene
C. Monday – Sunday rain or shine at Stinky bklyn

So be sure to check us out at the markets this weekend or at Stinky’s anytime for a sexy selection of pops including:

Roasted Apricot, Blueberries, & Tarragon
Watermelon, Lemon Verbena, & Spearmint
Nectarine, Blackberry, & Chamomile
Cantaloupe & Tarragon
Watermelon & Spearmint
Roasted Sugar Plum
Watermelon & Basil

And Shave-Ice:

Lemon basil
Watermelon & Lemon Verbena

Van Trauma Makes Us Better Lovers

2009-08-27T13:30:00.007-04:00

We once read that it's the difficult times that make life sweeter. So, when our van broke down on the way to the BK Flea last weekend it was tear-inducing, especially since we canceled the day before due to Hurricane Bill hanging around us like a roving drunk maniac, button-fly undone and all.

In any case, our van is a bit better (after David spooned it Monday night), and our pops are…well…they're really damn tasty this week.

Also, be sure to stop by Stinky bklyn starting today as they are now carrying a fantastic selection of people's pops flavors!!!

And please, pretty-please administer Nathalie a jet-lag-busting high-five, Top Gun-style.

Menu - 8/29-8/30 - Brooklyn Flea, Fort Greene & Brooklyn Flea DUMBO

pops

Watermelon & Sweet Basil

Cantaloupe & Tarragon

Yellow Peach, Organic Yogurt & Honey

shave-ice

Lemon & Basil

Watermelon & Mint

Blackberry & Chamomile *1-day only!*

Elope With Cantaloupe and Lavender Holyfield

2009-08-14T11:54:00.008-04:00

We've come across a very strange, very interesting song thanks to our friend Chris over at shopbop. Let's be clear though: toes never come into contact with our pops. That is, unless you buy one from us, then take it onto the subway and do whatever freaky fetish you're into. We don't even think the two should ever really be referenced in the same sentence together. Who'd actually want pop toes? Especially if they looked like our blackberry cantaloupe?

Hmm. The more we think about it, the more we agree this post is a tad foul. Kindly disregard it.

Le Menu
August 15th, Brooklyn Flea Fort Greene,
August 16th, Brooklyn Flea DUMBO

Pops
Sweet Blackberry & Cantaloupe
Roasted Apricot & Lavender Holyfield
Crazy-Ass Sweet-Cream-Corn & Blackberry

Shave Ice
Organic Lemon & Ginger
Peach & Mint

BTW, BIG UPS TO JOHN & JUDY! CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTIN' HITCHED!

Waterpopsi Melonsicles and Provence on a Stick

2009-08-07T19:37:00.019-04:00

So it's TOTALLY SUMMER. That's what watermelons mean to me, and this week, we've finally got 'em. After the financial nightmare of combining blackberries, Ronnybrook organic yogurt and local honey into one pop that we nonetheless had to sell for $3.50, it's a relief.

We've mixed the watermelon with mint and, not gonna lie, were tempted to dribble in a fifth of vodka. Managed to restrain ourselves though. However, don't let us keep you from packing a flask. If you come by the Brooklyn Flea, remember, sharing is caring. We'll provide the ice.

In other news, the second new flavor this week, roasted apricot and lavender, is officially the most delicious flavor of the year, or maybe I'm just delighted that I finally used lavender in something that didn't end up tasting soapy.

When my sister turned 20 five years ago, I woke her up with cheesecake I'd "artsily" [misguidedly] infused with lavender. She's smiling. She wasn't once she tasted it. If I remember correctly, she spat the first bite out.

We had to pit apricots this week, but after the sour cherry "pitsicle" debacle, followed by our discovery last week, after multiple hours of halving sugar plums, that it's actually much easier NOT to halve plums before pitting them, we finally got it right this week. Witness how our feelings of defeat and stupidity have segued into smugness and superiority.

Gershon, looking smug and superior.

Joel, looking smug and superior.

David, looking smug and superior.

Nathalie, looking smug, and also like a freak.

Not to worry, hubris-watchers, I'm sure the Greenmarket gods will smite us with some incontrovertible cabala next week.

An incontrovertible cabala.

Anyway, popsifans, here's the layout for the weekend.

Menu - Aug 8th (Ft. Greene Brooklyn Flea) & Aug 9th (DUMBO Brooklyn Flea)

Pops-

Watermelon & Mint ("The Sandra Dee")
Roasted Apricot & Lavender ("The Brigitte Bardot")
Sour Cherry & Yellow Plum ("Screech from 90210") UPDATE FROM DAVID & JOEL: Really Nathalie? Screech is from 90210?? GO GET YOUR F@&%ING SHINE BOX!!!

Shave ice-

Watermelon & Mint
Organic Lemon & Ginger

Your only chance to look as cute as these ladies is at the Flea.
See you Saturday in Ft. Greene and Sunday in DUMBO!!

Dave later this afternoon

2009-07-31T12:44:00.009-04:00

It's David's birthday and we're going to the beach for a long-deserved day off, so there's no time to be all creative--sun, surf and CORN SALAD await.

However, you can catch our sun-kissed, relaxed, ice-shavin' bods this weekend at the BROOKLYN FLEA in Ft. Greene on Saturday and in DUMBO on Sunday.

Menu - Aug 1st & Aug 2nd

pops-

Blackberry, Yogurt & Honey
Yellow Plum & Hyssop
Sour Cherry & Yellow Plum
Peach & Chamomile

shave ice-

Organic Lemon & Basil
Plum, Hyssop & Mint

WTF, SPT?

2009-07-24T20:51:00.009-04:00

It's true. Sugar Plum and Tarragon is here. The season's first batch of Sugar Plums. Here. Now. That paired with a tongue-twisting pinch of sweet tarragon and you've got yourself a pop that might cause a severe case of clothing malfunction.

The recipe is as follows:

"Mix a little bit a eh, eh
Wit' a little bit a eh, eh
Let it just fall out
Give a little bit a eh, eh
Wit' a little bit a eh, eh
Let it hang all out
Wit' a little bit of the eh, eh
And a sprinkle a that eh, eh
Let it just fall out
I like it when you eh, eh
Girl, Baby make it eh, eh"**

**recipe courtesy of Nelly / Pharrell Williams / Chad Hugo

We'll be "falling out" tomorrow, July 25th at the Brooklyn Flea, Fort Greene. And on Sunday, July 26th in DUMBO, under the Brooklyn Bridge. Can't wait to see you therre.

Menu - July 25th & July 26th

Pops-
Sugar Plum and Tarragon
Roasted Peaches and Organic Cream
Sweet Blueberry & Cardamom

Shave Ice-
Organic Lemon
Organic Lemon with Ginger
Organic Basil & Thyme

p.s. Just in case you think we're getting too gangsta for our britches, here's a picture of Joel whilin' out.

He's going to hate me for putting this up at the end of a post he wrote. I wuv you, Joel Pole.

Rhyming Haikus, Wrong Number of Syllables

2009-07-16T03:08:00.022-04:00

Here's where we chop-chop crops into pops.

Flat-toppin' peaches and tarragon into cash crops of slop.

Be-bop in the sweatshop nonstop nonstop.

Egg in the glop (it's there to test Brix content) goes kerplop.

A cop stops for pops.

(God, that was easy)

Is that snow in the backdrop???

I don't even know what this is, but I like it.

In the workshop, apparently just got off the short-bus stop.

In conclusion, boys and girls.

The exhibit above exceeds, in terms of bop, pop and glop, the following: florist shops, belly flops, glottal stops, hunting crops, the Lindy hop, spinning tops and mutton chops.

But hark, who's that fop in the backdrop?
What's that coming out of his crop?

"Come and get your people's pop!!"

Heed that fine barbaric yawp!

War -- What Is It Good For?

2009-07-10T13:33:00.004-04:00

Nothing sells pops like a controversy. That’s why this morning’s am New York was as refreshing as a blueberry & cardamom pop at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene on July 11, 2009. While the article didn’t directly have anything to do with us, we decided that if the people’s pops wanted to be a player on the scene this summer, the people would immediately have to take a war footing.

And if we learned anything from last year’s Russia-Georgia War during the Olympics, it’s that nothing moves shave-ice like a proxy war. That’s why our media attack dog Nathalie Jordi drew a line in the sand when the July 1st New York Times hit newsstands:

“Right now the system actually favors the black market over people who want to do things right,” said Nathalie Jordi, an owner of People’s Pops, who makes frozen treats with ingredients like locally grown rhubarb and strawberries. “How can that be good for the city?”

Now that the people’s pops is officially “in play” you can catch us at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene this Saturday, and under the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO at the Brooklyn Bridge Flea on Sunday (or today if you work for one of the companies in NYC that was cool enough to treat their employees to pops). We’ll have an assortment of flavors this weekend including:

Blueberry & Cardamom
Peaches & Cream
Sour Cherry
Blueberries & Cream
Sour Cherries & Strawberry
Strawberries & Cream

We can’t guarantee what flavors will be available at what location, but during this time of war you need to give us your complete trust and not ask any questions.

David

Sour Cherry Is The New Red Coat...Just Tastier.

2009-07-03T10:40:00.012-04:00

Tommy J., AKA, Thomas Jefferson, to those of you who didn't actually know the guy, saw bright, seething red almost every waking moment of his life. When he wasn't drafting the Declaration of Independence, acting as a Founding Father of the United States of America or organizing the Louisana Purchase, he was concentrating on one thing: Sour Cherry & Strawberry pops. Some say it was a pop that Tommy gave to Paul Revere that most aided his famed Midnight Ride, warning early Americans of an immenent British invasion.
The story goes that British Troops uniforms were white, so Paul rode his horse really, really fast past them with an outstretched arm holding a Sour Cherry & Strawberry pop, rubbing it against their coats and giving them a red hue. Apparently, this is why the brightly colored British military eventually became known as the Red Coats.

In any case, we're celebrating Independence Day this weekend with a line-up that could make any Founding Father a baby's daddy. Check us out on Saturday in Battery Park opposite 17 State Street and the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, and on Sunday in DUMBO under the Brooklyn Bridge and at the GreenFlea in Manhattan on 77th and Columbus, our second-ever Manhattan appearance!!

Menu - July 4th & 5th

Pops:
Sour Cherry & Sweet Strawberry
Blueberries & Cream
Strawberry & Sweet Rhubarb
Strawberry & Cream

Shave Ice:
Organic Lemon & Ginger
Organic Lemon & Mint
Sweet Rhubarb

Coming soon: Pitsicles

2009-07-02T01:10:00.004-04:00

In the morning we saw Peter Hoffman (Savoy and Back Forty) at the Greenmarket. The adorable bumptious Ali at Maxwell Farms introduced us, in her effervescent, casual way, to the living legend. “Oh!” he said. “I’ve heard of you guys. Very cool. Hey, you should put these sour cherries into your pops.”

“No way,” I said. Cherries have burned us before. Last year at New Amsterdam, we bought $60 worth of cherries with which to make a shave ice syrup. Ben spent all afternoon pitting them, but as soon as we pureed the cherries, they turned an unappetizing shade of caca brown. Colin tried to save the day by suggesting we add cocoa as a scapegoat for color, and because cherries and chocolate pair so allegedly well, but the end result was still so gross that although we halfheartedly tried to sell it at a knock-down price as “The Experiment,” we gave up when we realized none of us actually liked it. At all.

“Those were sweet cherries, I’ll bet,” said Peter Hoffman. “Cook these sour ones with sugar, like you would to make jam. The color’s amazing and the taste will blow your mind.”

When Peter Hoffman says these things, you listen. You buy. You take the cherries to Coney Island where you cook, de-stem them (you forgot that that would take an hour), watch them ripple like expensive marbles as you pour them into a big jam pot, add some sugar and turn on the heat. He’s right. They turn a gorgeous ruby red and are piquant and full-flavored, nothing like the washed-out, wimpily saccharine hash sweet cherries grown in rainy weather make in the mouth.

I’d figured that cherries cooked with sugar, like damsons, would burst and that the pits, buoyantly released, would float to the top. Boy, did I figure wrong.

What transpired were FOUR HOURS of hunting down cherry pits while Joel cleaned 15 pounds of rhubarb, hulled 24 quarts of strawberries, pureed and strained the strawberries and rhubarb, mixed them to taste with syrup, poured them into molds, fit them with pop sticks, froze them, cleaned up around me, and laughed at my sorry ass. And when I say pitting cherries, what I mean is wading through a heaving morass of cherry corpses picking out, with clumsy begloved fingers, a thousand little nuggets of lawsuit-waiting-to-happen. They clung desperately to the flesh like souls refusing to leave dead bodies, hiding under skins, skirting my thumbs. After a three hours, with lunch still eluding us, I started to hallucinate. My eyes were swimming in the brutal, blood-red vat of mashed-up cherries in the pan before me. I felt like a surgeon buried elbow-deep in an open carcass. “Can’t we leave some in here?” I asked Joel. “Like the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. First person to find one wins a prize.”

“Like what?” he retorted. “Mouth-to-mouth from David?”

“We can call them pitsicles,” I said. “Seriously. Let’s turn this into value.”

“Shut up and keep pitting,” said Joel. “I’m not going to jail for ice pop malpractice.”

We ended up making only about half as many pops as usual. But they’re going rock out, I think. And I’m pretty sure we got every single pit out. If you happen to find one, you win a prize….oh god please don’t sue us. Still, it hit me today: I can’t believe I’m paying someone for the privilege of pitting cherries in their space. That’s math I can’t handle. Anybody for a $10 pop? Pitsicle, anyone??

Get Black & Blue At Pride, BK FLEA & Water Taxi Beach

2009-06-24T17:49:00.022-04:00

With our eyes to the skies and our pop sticks crossed, we're hearing it'll be hot & heavy this weekend. And that's how you want it when you're trying out our newest, baddest, black-est and blue-est pop: Blueberry & Black Tea. It's the sort of flavor that jumps the turnstyle trying to get Straight Outta Compton, but there's nothing straight about it. And that's a good thing, cause that's just the way our pals down at the Gay Pride Parade Pride Fest like it.

But don't fret, Brooklyn Flea Fort Greene, Brooklyn Flea Brooklyn Bridge, or New York Water Taxi Beach LIC go-er's, because we'll be everywhere you'll be this weekend serving up a full selection of pops and shave-ice treats.

Just remember, we're also in Battery Park opposite 17 State Street from 12:30 till we sell out, weather permitting. And as always stay tuned to our Twitter Feed for last minute updates!

Oh, one more thing...we're getting blowed-up all over the place! Thanks so much, Daily Candy, NYMag GrubStreet, Serious Eats, NBC New York, Tasting Table, Greenhorns, TimeOut New York and Daily Radar!

Menu - June 26-27

Pops

Blueberry & Black Tea
Sweet Rhubarb & Strawberry 2.0
Strawberry & Organic Cream 2.0

Shave Ice

Turbo-Sweet Rhubarb
Fresh-Squeezed Organic Lemon w/ Mint and/or Ginger

ALL DRESSED UP WITH NO PLACE TO GO

2009-06-24T13:27:00.008-04:00

In the immortal words of Stephen Colbert: "RAINNNNNNNNN!!!!"

For our loyal downtown customers, the wait continues. For the 24th day in a row the people's pops is facing down clouds that make Independence Day look like July 4th. But not to fear...only good will come of this hiatus.

Our world class chefs have been working tirelessly in the flavor labs with some stunning produce from our local farmers including this season's first round of blueberries. So don't fret, pop lovers, we will be back and stronger than ever as soon as this weather passes. In the mean time get your people's pops information/location fix on our twitter account, and watch the Colbert v Rain dance-off.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Rain Dance-Off

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Stephen Colbert in Iraq

Sam Champion, why hath thou forsaken us?!?!

2009-06-22T08:30:00.006-04:00

We can all agree that this past Saturday was sort of a big, dirty bust. And we didn't feel all that bad about making our last-minute cancellation at the Brooklyn Flea. We simply told ourselves, "It's raining. Nobody eats pops in the rain, and nobody in their right mind tries to sell pops in the rain."

Up to this past Friday, it had rained for 15 of the past 19 days of June, and like every other New Yorker, we were over it. That's why when we woke up on Sunday at 6am, took a long, eye-glasses-less gander out the window and heard those fat drops smacking the pavement, we decided once again to throw in the towel. Accuweather's futuristic weather radar animation & the 90% chance of T-storms reassured us, so we went back to sleep, a tad peeved about our lame-duck Sunday.

A couple hours later, we woke up. Birds were chirping, the sun was beaming, and we were pissed. Like, ultra-pissed. The sort of pissed that gets you an all-expenses paid trip to the slammer.

That's when his name came over us like hot, humid, garlicky breath...Good Morning America's sun-kissed Lord of the Weather, Sam Champion...the revered boogie messiah of bbq's, beach-days, outdoor catered weddings and corporate events himself. A solar deity to most New Yorkers, Sam Champion is North America's Nostradamous: the premier, most precise, finely-tuned instrument of wizard-like weather prediction known today.

That is, until yesterday. He dropped a ball so huge, it crushed our spirits. Pops melted, children cried, and David needed a hug so large, it required several tremendous men to administer it.

So, while we recoup this coming week wondering why Sam denied us our livelyhood, we'll be carefully planning this week at Battery Park. And this coming weekend at Gay Pride. And at Brooklyn Flea Fort Greene. And at Brooklyn Flea DUMBO. And at Water Taxi Beach in L.I.C. (???).

Keep the faith, y'all.

xoxo,
JND

This Week's Flavors: Strawberry-Rhubarb-Rain

2009-06-19T10:31:00.007-04:00

Our 29-day pop-up pop shop in Battery Park starts today across from 17 State St!! Come see us and bring your friends, 'cause we just found out this was happening a few days ago and have been too busy making pops to tell anyone. If you can't make it out today, we'll be at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene on Saturday and under the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday....unless the weather forecast ends up being accurate, in which case we're going to stay in bed and drink whiskey all day.

So, what did we make this week?

Weekend of June 20th Menu

Pops-

Fresh Strawberry & Organic Cream
Super-Sweet Upstate Rhubarb
Fresh Strawberry with a touch of Rhubarb

Shave Ice-

Organic Lemon and Black Mint
Rhubarbaliciousness!

Many thanks to Caroline Rogers of Looks Good To Me, who sketched the above image of herself enjoying one of our pops at Brooklyn Flea last weekend. Her blog is excellent and next time, she should introduce herself and get the free pop we've reserved for her.

ALSO. We will be selling honeyed pops at the First Annual Bee Ball on Monday night at Water Taxi Beach in the South Street Seaport! Just Food is the great organization behind this party, and we are excited to link up with them to support a cause we believe in: legalizing beekeeping in New York City. Bee there or bee square!

The Learning Curve

2009-06-18T23:53:00.009-04:00

So we've been learning a LOT as we build this business.

How to buy a van off Craigslist. How to deal with the fact that the insurance costs more than what we paid for the van. What to doodle during hours on the phone spent finagling an alternative insurance plan, which, despite our best efforts, costs just as outrageously much. How to extract more credit from a bank so tightly wound that I've gotten bigger tips as a waitress than the credit they've extended.

Navigating the vagaries of various City departments: Revenue, Special Events, Health and Milk Control, Licensing and Permits, Ag & Markets, and Consumer Affairs, to name a few. Mapping out the best routes (whether in the van, on a bike or on the subway) between our commercial kitchen, the Greenmarket, Jetro Cash-n-Carry, our various apartments, and our dry ice supplier. Finding out--quickly--where to go when they're out of dry ice and we've got a freezer full of melting pops.

Tooling around the city breathless, passing the checkbook from hand to hand. Designing ingredient labels that the DOH will approve. Stamping pop sticks by hand, on both sides, 1000 to a session. Realizing that food-safe ink wasn't used. Realizing that they'll work just fine as business cards.

And then there's our technique. What are the most aerodynamic, wasteless ways to hull strawberries or wash rhubarb or measure out simple syrup? What's the ideal Brix level in a given pop mixture and how can we keep it there when our ingredients change week to week? How long do the pops take to freeze, and how do the different ingredients react to a blast chiller? What are the cleanest, most sensible ways to pour pops, unmold and wrap them? What--do you remember, guys?--is the legally correct proportion of sanitizer we're required to apply to clean molds?

Where can we source the best quality fruit for a good price and, for that matter, what fruits will survive this mid-June onslaught of water and cold?

What is the best proportion of gin to tonic after a long day's work? Might it be 100% gin, or does that just seem like the right solution when the bottle of tonic is empty and we're too tired to walk downstairs to the bodega?

Will it cost more to hire people to work the stand or work fewer stands and manage them ourselves? And how can we make the bloody sky stop raining?? How do we keep up with the endless ribbons of receipts for anti-bacterial wipes, pH test strips, food prep bucket lids, chalkboard paint, seven-ounce cups, gorgeous black mint, boxes of pop sticks, organic lemons, a couple hundred pounds of sugar, Department of Health permits, Deparment of Ag & Market permits, and dry ice, to name about a quarter of the things we spent money on this week?

How can we stay sane in the face of all these questions?

Now that is a good question.

Well, we've reduced our wastage. We found good prices on molds, packaging, a juice squeezer and a used freezer. Maxwell Farms, from whom we bought fruit this week, brought to the Greenmarket the best strawberries we've seen yet. We downloaded QuickBooks. All of our permits are finally in line. We designed labels we like. The pops, especially strawberry & cream, taste DYNAMITE. We figured out how to keep the pop sticks from slipping down while they freeze. This week, we had our second wholesale customer and two pieces of fan mail. We have a 29-day concession in Battery Park, four months in the making, that starts tomorrow.

And rain is predicted for the next ten days.

Still, I feel great. Learning feels great: diplomacy, negotiation, patience, creativity. Every little problem we surmount makes us Caesar-victorious.

And we still honestly have a great time together. That's the best part of it all.

Under The Bridge: 2.0

2009-06-11T15:51:00.008-04:00

Our favorite band in the universe is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not only do we love the four-time grammy-award winning band's music, we also respect Anthony Kiedis' hot mane and sexy bod. Our favorite song, Under the Bridge was released on March 10th, 1992 – and was the driving force behind our 5th grade heroin addiction.

That's why we're dedicating this upcoming weekend to Anthony Kiedis and the Red Hot Chili Peppers by setting up shop Under the Brooklyn Bridge this Sunday in DUMBO.

Of course, you can still find us rocking out in Fort Greene at the Brooklyn Flea. Just be sure to get your ears candled for this Sunday's debut at the Brooklyn Flea's newest outpost in DUMBO.

Weekend of June 13th Menu

Pops-

Fresh Strawberry & Organic Cream
Super-Sweet Upstate Rhubarb
Fresh Strawberry with a touch of Rhubarb

Shave Ice-

Organic Lemon
Organic Raw Cane Sugar, Ginger and Rhubarb

The View From Behind

2009-06-08T09:38:00.007-04:00

People's Pops in action at the Brooklyn Flea this weekend. We can't believe how good the weather was and we are SO GLAD TO BE BACK! Thanks for coming out and eating pops!!

One of our more satisfied customers:

See you next weekend! All dogs get free snowballs!!!

Respect the Rhubarb. Sweat the Strawberry.

2009-06-05T10:06:00.010-04:00

We know, we know...it's late to give you our 2009 DEBUT menu, but not too late to get you PUMPED! Don't forget, we're at the Fort Greene Brooklyn Flea on Saturday, June 6th. And at our brand-spankin' new location in Carroll Gardens at the Brooklyn Indie Market on Sunday, June 7th!

The summer sun hasn't quite set in yet for peaches, blueberries or watermelon, but that's a good thing for you rhubarb-freaks. We've made a fantastic few batches of the best that New York's Union Square Green Market has to offer:

Menu - June 6th, June 7th 2009

Pops:
Strawberry & Rhubarb
Rhubarb & Elderflower
Strawberry & Buttermilk

Shave Ice:
Rhubarb (and Licorice?!?!)
Lemon Mint

Can't wait to see y'all!

xoxoxoxoxoJND

Oh, and check it out! We made Cool Hunting today! Thanks a bunch Laura!!!

people's pops, '09 debut! ANNOUNCED!!!!

2009-05-31T09:10:00.010-04:00

We've been sitting in front of this computer for 10 minutes, typing, backspacing, typing and deleting. And that's because we're really, really excited!

WE'RE BACK!!!! WE'RE BACK!! WE'RE BACK!!!

It's true! PP'09 is here! Our fruits are getting riper by the second! Our pops are popping!!!

JUNE 6TH! BROOKLYN FLEA: FORT GREENE!

JUNE 7TH! BROOKLYN INDIE MARKET: CARROLL GARDENS!!!
!!!
!!!
!!!
w00t!!!
!!!
!!!
!!!

Flavors, you ask? Those are still top secret. We'll post up our official menu in a couple days, but expect a few BRAND NEW 2009 pop and shave ice flavors this upcoming Saturday.

Oh, and if you wanted to know what Joel looks like after he just robbed a health-food store at gunpoint, see the above picture.

Oye Vey.

Check back soon!!!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoJND

Where Being Local Screws Us

2009-05-13T00:42:00.006-04:00

we did not take this picture

So, the days are getting warmer and we're getting hot to trot, hungry to sell pops. Too bad the strawberries are still white on the bush and cherries yellow-orange. We were thinking we'd probably get to market in June, early in June if the weather indulged us. But dangit, June is far away and we are BROKE ASS M***********! And then we realized with a start--why not rhubarb??

so we're thinking, maybe rhubarb and ginger, that's a classic, or rhubarb and star anise or possibly chamomile. Rhubarb and champagne? Rhubarb and cream! And of course, rhubarb and strawberries.

coming soon to brooklyn flea! in the meantime, anybody got any van detailing experience? we are thinking our van needs an A-Team style stripe.

we didn't take this one either

Officially Speaking, We're Official.

2009-04-30T15:00:00.006-04:00

Above is Joel and David, getting all sorts of legal at the bank. And by that, we're basically greasing wheels, lining pockets and glad-handing everybody who's anybody for our totally radical, totally sweet upcoming purchase:

If you or anybody you know has a hot cargo van up for sale, shoot us an email!
Also, we'll be posting much, much more frequently just as soon as we pull the trigger on our official season opening date!!!

Stay posted!

Ice Pops 'Round the World!

2009-04-29T23:52:00.014-04:00

Even ice pop-makers don't hibernate in winter; since the last time you saw us hawking pops at the Brooklyn Flea, the three of us have been all over the gaff.

Here are a few pictures of people enjoying sweet, icy treats in other parts of the pop-loving world!

Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Boys selling shave ice. Though they only had one bowl and one spoon, it was too hot for anyone to mind.

Bangkok, Thailand.
Tiny pops, frozen in minutes!
(credit: hobotraveler.com)

Finisterre, Spain.
This picture was totally taken from the wrong angle. The girls and their orange creamsicles are great, but behind them is our crappy rental car, whereas behind us was the westernmost point in Europe, the bluest ocean we'd seen in months.

Ishkashim, Tajikistan.
Cool shave ice syrup dispenser. The ice is in the box below. Again, reusable glass cups. No waste here.

Moscow, Russia.
Is it us, or do these chicks just LOOK LIKE HUMAN ICE POPS?!?!

Time Out New York Has A Crush On Us

2009-04-20T23:07:00.005-04:00

This ain't no Facebook poke nor Match wink. This is a full-on 'meet the family' scenario...Time Out New York's Amy Plitt wrote a sweet little piece about us in this week's print and web mag! So, welcome TONY new-comers!

If you haven't yet, y'all will just have to try out our fresh ice-pops and shave ice once our season fires up. And boy, are we getting geared up for it. Read up on the post below and you'll see what we mean.

Lord! We're excited.

Apologies, Announcements and Awesomeness!

2009-03-31T20:52:00.007-04:00

Wow. We sped out of last year's pop season like a bat out of hell! No goodbyes or thankyous...not even a kiss on the cheek to all of our lovely customers.

We're sorry. Truly, we are. There was no excuse for acting so rude. Not even the fact that we were stoked about making a comeback in '09 with a new and improved, copywrite-infringement-free name: people's pops. Or we could've been daydreaming about bumping around in a sweetly-pimped out ice-pop van to the Brooklyn Flea and another undisclosed (soon-to-be-announced!!!) market every week instead of every-other week (w00t!!!). And those new-fangled ideas involving a bizarrely awesomely Thai ice-pop-maker straight from Bangkok (soon-to-be-announced!!!) serving some ultra-dope new flavors. And that our long-lost 3rd buddy in crime Nathalie Jordi, will be around 24/7/365!?!

All the excitement made us jerks. Will you take us back?

kisses,

joel, david & nathalie

Sweetest Blackberry Ever, Here Now!

2008-09-05T14:33:00.006-04:00

Well, in ice pop format, that is. This week, we're "Pushing it to the Limit", Paul Engemann-style with deliciously tart blackberries, tangy-fresh Ronnybrook Farm yogurt & super-sweet honey. You'll also want to have a lick of our famously fashionable Watermelon, Cucumber & Hyssop pop. Just remember...this could be our last week of the season. So, come on down!!!

Btw, Serious Eats had a serious review about us only just yesterday!

And so did our buddies over at PSFK! Thanks guys!

Menu - September 7th

Pops
Blackberry, Honey & Yogurt

Watermelon, Cucumber & Hyssop

Shave Ice
Tristar Strawberry
Lemon & Basil

Daily Candy Does Us!

2008-08-28T09:49:00.006-04:00

Well, it seems Daily Candy digs our pops! The people's pops was their featured story on yesterdays e-mail blast...and we're absolutely thrilled!

While we've been inundated with a bunch of supportive e-mails, questions, cat-calls, propositions & favors, we'll be sure to keep our pops & ice as right as rain for our next showing at the Brooklyn Flea on September 7th! (We're taking this weekend off to take advantage of a few of those much needed "favors".)

Check back with us next week about our menu for the 7th!

Oh, and big ups to Eric Demby at the Brooklyn Flea for keeping it real!

The Last Days Of Peach?

2008-08-21T09:44:00.010-04:00

The peaches are still keen, but not for long. We think we've the best batch of peach, chamomile & honey yet for this coming Sunday, the 24th of August's Brooklyn Flea . Get 'em while their hot. Err, cold. Also, we've been running out of Watermelon, Cucumber & Hyssop pretty quickly lately, so we're going to bring the reserves in this week.

Our friends at Bergen Farms saved us a special basket of the juiciest blueberries we've tasted this summer so after blueberry & cardamons brief hiatus from shave ice, it'll be back with passionate fervor this week!

Check it out: Alexis at the Itis, called us hams!

And we're "laid back", according to Chris L. on Yelp!

Menu - August 24th

Pops:
Peach, Chamomile & Honey
Sugar Plum & Mint
Watermelon Cucumber

Shave Ice:
Blueberry & Cardamon
Lemon & Basil

Get Some: Sugar Plum & Mint Pops!

2008-08-06T19:06:00.001-04:00

So, peaches are still the sh*t. No question. But we thought we'd add a little fuel to the fire with a tart, sweet & minty batch of sugar plum & mint ice pops!
These cold little mouth-rockets kick 90 degree summer days in the rear end. And 95% of doctors agree with us 132% of the time. Trust us.

It's true.

See you at the Brooklyn Flea this coming Sunday the 10th of August!

MENU - August 10th

Pops:
Sugar Plum & Mint
Peach, Chamomile & Honey
Watermelon, Cucumber & Hyssop

Shave Ice:
Strawberry
Lemon & Basil

Peach, Chamomile & Honey Pop? Say What?

2008-07-23T18:43:00.001-04:00

Ok. Here's the deal. Peaches are in right now. Like, in the best way. Tree-ripened. Sugar-sweet. Juicy. White & Yellow varieties.

It's crazy.

So, in honor of this glorious harvest, we've made up a legendary treat with peaches, fresh chamomile flowers & golden honey. They put asses in seats. Pair it with our classic watermelon, cucumber & hyssop that's sweetened with a touch of cane sugar.

Check us out this Sunday, the 27th of July at the Brooklyn Flea. And get there early, before we run out and ruin your day!

Le Menu - July 27th

Pops:
Peach, Chamomile & Honey
Watermelon, Cucumber & Hyssop
Strawberries & Cream

Shave Ice:
Blueberry & Cardamon
Lemon & Basil

Brooklyn Flea Is The Place To Be. At.

2008-07-14T18:28:00.000-04:00

What a fantastic time we had at the Brooklyn Flea this past Sunday! Massive sunburns aside, we loved our inaugural bash at the Flea.

While we'd love to be back next week, it just won't happen in real life. See you in 2 weeks!

Brooklyn Flea: The New Home of the people's pops!

2008-07-09T17:42:00.001-04:00

We're unbelievably excited to announce our new home at The Brooklyn Flea! Keep an eye out for a gleaming block of ice and an ice-cream cart from 1972 (The cart's actually brand new. Just looks like a blue-striped tube sock.) this coming Sunday the 13th.

Oh, and if you see The Brooklyn Flea's main man Eric Demby strolling around, give him a high five for the people!

Here's our menu this coming week:

Pops:
Strawberries & Cream
Watermelon, Cucumber & Hyssop
Lime & Raspberry

Shave Ice:
Blueberry & Cardamon
Lemon & Basil

New Amsterdam Market: HUGE Success!

2008-06-30T16:38:00.001-04:00

What an amazing day! New York came out in droves to support the market, and Peck Slip rang with the crack of fresh sourdough and the slosh of pickles in their jars and cheese bubbling on hot grills and oysters gasping for breath, and people hawking, licking their fingers, and the ringing of cash, cash, kizz-aaash.

And, of course, the buzz of a shaver rolling over ice, the slurp of syrup sliding down the inside of a Dixie cup, and the clack a borrowed freezer makes when it opens and closes about 300 times.

By 2 pm, the people had spoken. We were sold out. I don’t know who found the bottle of bubbly, but by the time the rain came, it was drained. After about two seconds of packing up, we were off to the bar for as much beer as our massive stack of ones would buy. Thank you, New York!

Also, it seemed the press was as excited about us as our customers were! Check out these lovely reviews about us below:

New York Magazine:

Eatery:

Serious Eats (No review, but a pretty swank photo!):

What I Made For Dinner:

Until next time!

New Amsterdam Market, Here We Come!

2008-06-28T09:27:00.001-04:00

Much to my surprise, we’re ready, and in the past 48 hours—this is a conservative estimate, now—the five of us have only aged on average ten years apiece. We have our freezer, rented from a cool old-school Italian-ice-vendor freezer manufacturer in Queens, Worksman Cycles; we’ve rented a van, to carry the freezer; we laid chalkboard paint on plywood to make signs with; we ironed names onto our t-shirts; we have business cards and hats and dry ice and 75 pounds of wet ice and 300 pops and a few gallons of lemon-basil syrup and g*ddamn it we’re still alive.

Game time!!

Menu

Pops:
“Strawberries and Cream”
“Rhubarbalicious”
“Blue Velvet” (blueberries, yogurt and honey)

Shave Ice:
Lemon and Basil
Cherry and Cocoa (interesting)

Trials & Icy Tribulations

2008-06-27T09:13:00.001-04:00

The People’s Pops hasn’t seen much action, but it’s time to mobilize if this is going to happen. In hotel rooms (I’ve been traveling all month) my two preliminary trials have yielded totally mediocre results: rock-hard pops, bland, with the julienned mint I’d added for flavor and aesthetics giving the effect of finding pieces of dental floss in your sorbet. It is now clear why gums and stabilizers enjoy such a privileged position in commercial pops. What are the chances there’s a stall at the ass end of the Greenmarket that’ll sell me some…?

OF COURSE, because luck is just soooo on our side, none of the fruits for sale at the end of June are ones any of us have experimented with (my friends Lucy and Ben and David and Joel have joined the effort at this point, and thank God, because now there’s five of us going insane instead of just me). We bought cherries, which Ben spent hours pitting, only to discover once we’d thrown them in the blender that we’d bruised their beautiful red into a bloody, muddy, ugly brown. Sieving blueberries of their seeds and skin, we now know, leaves you with basically nothing. And organic lemons at Whole Foods cost a f*cking dollar apiece.

What a sh*tshow.

Love, NJ

The Birth of the People's Pops

2008-05-26T09:00:00.004-04:00

When my friend Robert Lavalva told me he was putting on a one-day summermarket to continue publicizing his cause, the New Amsterdam Market, I jumped at the chance to participate. The only question: what to sell?

The only answer: ice pops. Who doesn’t love these refreshing little nuggets of fruit and sugar and ice, crystallized summertime? I even like the crappy ones.

We can do better, I think. Industrially produced ice pops are little more than water laced with high fructose corn syrup, juice from concentrate, gums and stabilizers. What about pops made just with locally, sustainably grown fruit and herbs, organic sugar, and a low proportion of water?

In a bar, my roommate suggests the name: The People’s Popsicle. It’s perfect. [update, April 2010: Just got a cease and desist letter from Unilever. Let history heretofore be rewritten: we are The People's Pops, and have been since day one!!]

The most democratic of snacks, upgraded to both taste better and be better. The people are going to love it!

The market is a month away.

love, NJ