Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisco Sanchez.
Hi Francisco, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Mexico, and you see many artisanal popsicle shops on almost every corner. Every shop had their family recipes and twist on making their paletas. At a young age, I was offered an opportunity to work at my aunt’s popsicle and ice cream shop. During this period, I developed a passion for the ice cream and popsicle business. My apprenticeship at my aunt’s business was instrumental in my knowledge and skills in operating an ice cream and popsicle shop. I never relented to my dream of opening my ice cream shop, and over the years, I experimented in the kitchen and handwrote my personal popsicle and ice cream recipes.
Over the years, I had not made much progress in realizing my dream of an ice cream and popsicle shop.
It was not until I suffered a terrible car accident that led me to stop dreaming and making moves towards making the shop a reality. While I recovered from various surgeries caused by the car accident, I planned and researched how to open my shop. I am happy to say that in April 2019, I made my dream a reality and opened Paco Pops.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Opening Paco Pops has not been a smooth road. I say this because there is much involved in opening your own business. I had the knowledge and skills to make the product but not how to operate a business in the United States. With the help of my spouse, we reached out to local resources, who pointed us to the entities we needed to contact to open a business in our county. It was overwhelming. It took a lot of planning. As a two-person team, my spouse and I divided tasks and got to work. My spouse has a background in business, and I have a background in construction, so it was a good combination to merge our expertise. We both made tasks and checked them off while learning along the way. We spent a lot of time together and made memories that we will never forget. There were times when it felt like our tasks only got bigger, but we pushed through opening day. Another challenge we have been facing since opening is inflation. At Paco Pops, we use premium ingredients such as cream and fresh fruit in our products. Over the years, we have experienced increases in the price of our ingredients, which is very challenging for a small business that does not want to pass on the increases to its customers.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Paco Pops?
My business is Paco Pops. At Paco Pops, you will find over 80 flavors of popsicles and ice cream, all made from scratch. Each popsicle batch is handmade using fresh, handpicked, and hand-cut fruit. You can see the chunks of fruit in each popsicle.
You can also grab many other items such as nachos, nacho special, corn in a cup, Frito pie, fruit cocktail, strawberries, and cream, Paco’s Corn and Chips, Paco’s Loco Chips, banana split, chocolate banana, mangonada, and milkshakes.
Paco Pops is known for being innovative – since I handmake all the popsicles and ice cream, I have flexibility in creating new flavors and taking customer recommendations. This is truly special as other ice cream shops are not able to produce anything outside their set menu.
As an example, at Paco Pops, I create seasonal popsicle flavors that have become very popular, and our customers enjoy seeing them in the summer, fall, and winter. In the summer, we bring back the pickle popsicle. In the fall, we have pumpkin pie cheesecake, pumpkin spice, apple pie, rice pudding, and caramel apple. In the winter, we have hot chocolate, candy cane, s’mores, and sweet potato.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being innovative and listening to customer recommendations is an important characteristic of the success at Paco Pops. Customers love our brand and products, and we continually listen to their input and make changes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pacopops.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pacopops
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pacopops01
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PACOPOPS1
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/paco-pops-porter
