Innovation

Mompops prides itself on offering simple, healthy, affordable ice pops for everybody.

This innovation is not just business. In today’s world more than 50% of the people in America, and about 45% of the people in the world are dealing with serious and life threatening health problems like obesity, diabetes, and various food allergies. This innovative product is providing consumers with healthy ice pops, which keeps a check on their sugar intake, carbohydrate intake, and calorie intake.

These ice pops are produced using natural ingredients, sweetened using a dash of Organic Agave Nectar and are Gluten free, Peanut free, Dairy free, Soy free, Non GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), Vegan Certified, and Kosher Certified. Also, they contain under 4 grams of sugar, 4 grams of carbohydrates, and most surprisingly have a calorie intake of under 19 calories. As an icing to the cake, Mompops brings a variety of unique and tasty flavors such as chocolate sea salt, strawberry lemonade, banana raspberry cream, pineapple basil, and orange coconut. Surprisingly, the retail price for single serve 1 oz pop is between $0.50-$1.00 per pop,and for a 6 pack pop the retail price is just $3.70-$3.99 per box. Since it is a wholesale business, the final price is set by the retailers.

Being loyal to their customers about how their pops are prepared and manufactured added to the experience. The company made the decision in early 2016 to take the next step and they switched from a shared facility of production to privately owned facility. The reason was that the shared production facility used products that had gluten and peanuts in it. The risk of cross-contamination existed so to maintain the product attributes that were so important to them they knew they had to move to another production environment.

Inspiration

With a serious lack of healthy options in the ice cream market, the idea of Mompops was born. The concept on Mompops was first inspired by Sandra Ostrander. She is a retired music teacher who taught in the school system for 30 years. And towards the end of her career, there was so much being understood and realized about the impact that food really had on people, and their lives. During the interview, Stephanie quoted Sandra. She said , "The food is our fuel. If we do not put good fuel in our body, then we are not going to have a good outcome. A major percentage of our children today are suffering from obesity and diabetes."

The Ostrander family were entrepreneurs at heart, serial entrepreneurs if you will. Upon retirement, Sandra started preparing a small number of pops in a certified kitchen and would sell them at festivals, and various local events. She was very successful in selling all of the ice pops within a few hours at events. When her son Issa graduated, he did not want to go the traditional way of a corporate job, so he started what became Mompops.

Stephanie Cohen, the woman I had the privilege of interviewing, has been very instrumental in the growth of the business. After graduating with a degree in Marketing Management, Stephanie started her career in the Health Care Sector. Her desire and passion to do something ‘good’ for the society greatly influenced her career decision to work in Healthcare and become a Health Care Consultant. She served as the Chief Operating Officer for a multi-million dollar ophthalmology practice as she quoted, “ There is nothing more incredible to know that you are in some way involved with helping people and at times seeing people’s vision improved or restored, and I take great pride in my work." She met Issa and Sandra initially at a manufacturing food cooperative and learned quickly about their innovative and noble business idea. She was determined to help them, join them and see them grow to bring a positive impact in the lives of people.

When she joined the company, Issa had been managing the manufacturing and production of the ice pops. He did the competitive analysis and research but was looking for a partner with a financial and business background to oversee that part of the business. Stephanie took the lead and created processes and procedures for what she calls “the front of the house”. She managed the financial aspects of the company, provided financial statements, and leveraged her professional connections to re-brand the company. Her efforts greatly helped to position the company such that the path to its progress had no hurdles or barriers.

The mother-son duo’s inspiration to innovate and get involved in this business was to reduce the overall impact of unhealthy frozen treats like ice pops which had such negative impact on the body of a individual. As narrated by Stephanie, Sandra said, "I was aware of how much of a negative impact these frozen treats have on the body, and the addiction children have to sugar today. Therefore, I decided to bring these ice pops to people and impact the health and lives of people in a positive way."

Overall impact

By building this innovation, the mother-son duo, and Stephanie created a strong and successful business. Mompops successfully positioned its innovation toward an increasingly large market - health conscious people. By doing this, they not only started a movement; they also attracted a loyal and positive community.

As a business, they are growing and have much passion for the betterment of the people and the society. Mompops has the ability to enrich people's lives through healthy ice pops. The fact that Mompops is simple, clean, fun, and affordable makes it easy for people to maintain a healthy lifestyle, without comprising on taste. Mompops establishes a welcoming atmosphere of like-minded individuals trying to improve overall well-being and health of people. The business puts a tremendous amount of consideration into how their business touches the lives of people.

By promoting gluten free, purely vegan ice pops that are amazingly low in calorie, sugar and carbohydrate intake they’re changing the view of the frozen treat industry - as a dangerous food that can adversely affect one’s health in the long run. Minimizing the impact such food has on people’s health is a value they accomplish through creating their safe and clean pops. Also, these pops are extremely cheap. Despite the bundle of goodness each pop has, they are priced at a price of just 4 dollars for a 6-pack in retail stores. Thus, this business is creating a value by making a product within the reach of all people regardless of their economic status.

Mompops was an innovative way to spread awareness of veganism and gluten free food. Stephanie expressed how her favorite part about her job is satisfying her customers, and playing a part in making their life healthy. She feels it is rewarding to know that these ice pops can positively impact someone’s life. She is confident that their healthy ice pops fuel people while making them feel amazing from the inside out. Mompops as a whole is an extremely passionate, driven, and impactful company.

What they would love to see next is edible ice pop sticks in the market. Issa is currently working on this innovation. Since founded in 2010, Mompops has expanded all across Philadelphia and is incredibly successful. Mompops is extremely well known all over Philly and becoming more popular through word of mouth and wonderful reviews on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The growth of Mompops proves the impact the company is making on the society and how impactful its goals and values truly are.

Business benefit

Mompops, a perfectly formulated health innovation that has been successful to substantially prevent major health issues faced by the world today, has witnessed a surge in its sale and profits since the year of its foundation. This innovation enjoys a competition free market even today, as it is the only one of its kind. Years ago, eating a vegan free, gluten free, non GMO, allergen free ice pop was seen as absurd. However, due to a shift in people’s concern with health, the popularity of these pops has skyrocketed. In numbers, the recorded gross margin is about 50% and the year to year growth has grown 1.75 fold. Gluten free, vegan and healthy food options are becoming more mainstream. The demand for healthy, yet tasty treats has significantly increased due to greater awareness.

Six years ago when Mompops was founded, the market for their product was not that big. The frozen market treat was about $25.5 billion then. In present times, 45% of the those consumers have switched to non dairy frozen treat option. By being one of the first business of this kind in the market, Mompops has successfully positioned itself within its target market. It is an extremely well-known product to the local community, that prioritizes healthy food. Mompops attracts not only health conscious folks, but also others who love a tasty frozen treat, as these pops were rated top in terms of taste. This is crucial, as specifically targeting only on health conscious people would run the risk of alienating large segments of the population. Mompops has several opportunities to continue expanding outside of Philadelphia, as the demand for such healthy, yet tasty frozen treats is rising in the United States, and also outside of it.

The mission of the company is to provide a simple and effective solution for complicated health related problems. With this innovation and the huge success that Mompops has had so far, the founders of the company feel strongly that this 1 ounce of ice pop is the first of many simple solutions to help and deal with serious health risks around the world.

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Social and environmental benefit

Mompops is dedicated to improving the health of people and doing good to the environment. As an ice pop manufacturer and seller, it produces ice pops using natural ingredients, sweetened using a dash of Organic Agave Nectar and are Gluten free, Peanut free, Dairy free, Soy free, Non GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), Vegan Certified, and Kosher Certified, therefore minimizing its carbon footprint in the world.

Mompops innovation of these ice pops meals is providing an alternative to people who crave for ice cream, and other desserts rich in sugar, carbohydrates, fats and high in calories. Milk production has been shown to have a substantial footprint on climate change (greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions), water quality (run-off of fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and pathogens), and the soil and surrounding ecosystems (land use, cropping practices, fertilizers, and pesticides). These ice pops are dairy free, and hence avoid contributing to the dairy industry. According to a United Nations report, lesser consumption of animal products is necessary to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change, and the United Nations urges a global move to meat- and dairy-free diet.

The world’s population is growing, and vegan diets are sustainable options to go for. Vegetable crops use less land and less water, and they produce fewer greenhouse gases. Going vegan is essential for the sustainability of the planet, and vegan pops such as Mompops are moving people on the right track: to have a more positive influence on the environment.

The ice pops are soy free, which also contributes towards a positive impact to society and environment. Soy products mess up the estrogen levels in the body and have devastating effects for men, women, children and newborns. As well, soy crops are probably the most destructive of all the monocrops. They rob the soil of nutrients without giving back, are pesticide- laden crops and now almost all genetically modified. Also the major part of it goes to feed livestock, who get sick eating it.

The United Nations recognized the rise of non-communicable diseases such as stroke, obesity and diabetes are responsible for a growing share of both mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries and that the global burden of disease has shifted greatly in the past 30 years, increasing the need for a focus on health systems. Under the Sustainable development goal of ‘Wellness and health being’, the United Nations is focused to address these health issues. With just 19g calories, 4g sugar and 4g carbohydrate in each pop, Mompops is doing a wonderful job to prevent these global health issues.

In a nutshell, Mompops is playing a great role and making a major positive contribution towards what our mother Earth and people need today greatly.

Interview

Stephanie Cohen, Chief Operating Officer