Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Delgado.
Jonathan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I got laid off in may 2015, I was put in an uncomfortable position especially with my two kids not knowing what my future will be. I made my first popsicle for my 15-month-old son when he fell in the living room and busted his lip with the coffee table. As first-time parents, we were very worried and rushed to his doctor. After he saw his lip he recommended we get him a cold treat and let him suck on it for the lip to heal.
We went around grocery stores in our neighborhood but did not agree with a lot of ingredients in some of the popsicles. My wife was very into buying organic and all natural fruits and veggies. I searched on the internet for popsicle molds and bath bed & beyond had a zoku popsicle mold. We bought it and started to mix kale with apple and carrots, freeze them and two hours later the first popston was made, we were impressed by how he ate the entire pop with all the greens!
Going back when I was 7 years old my mother decided to go back to Central America to see her family, my grandmother had a small local store, she sold frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and made what I call “ghetto pops” with no sticks. She would make passion fruit juice, strawberry with cream, horchata and froze it in a bag. I would help her sale to the locals and also make the product.
Well after my wife and mother in law convinced me to start my own business and make pops. I started finding out about renting kitchen space to make the product, also a cart to sell my pops. I was able to find two carts that were in terrible shape, but I saw potential this was an opportunity for me to start my dream. I tried getting into markets, and events around town but I was denied at all of them.
So I decided to go around town pushing my cart and offer customers popston pops! I learned a lot being in the streets for example market research, customer service, and passion to always go forward with your dreams! I decided to stick around the museum of fine arts there was a metro stop and I would ask people boarding the bus if they wanted a pop, a lot of people bought pops they really like my flavors, textures, and the fact that they take a while to melt. Instagram has been my company booster people are proud to make a post with popston.
Every thing was going great, then hurricane Harvey flooded my entire neighborhood we lost everything! I was devastated. So I had to start over luckily I was a ble to save my pop carts and the commercial kitchen was not hit by harvey. This year has been a blessing because the museum of fine arts sells popston on the cafè inside the glassell school of art! Everyone at the museum supports popston and with the addition of cloud column, there is a lot of foot traffic.
With this Houston heat, my all natural handcrafted popsicles are a great way to cool off. I wanted to make something local, something Houston would be proud to have that’s where the name came from POPSTON. It’s really cool to see a lot of diversity here, I celebrate culture with the popston’s making flavors from south American, central america, and classic American flavors we all grew up with.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Getting doors closed to events, farmers market, and festivals. Also, hurricane Harvey took away my assets to keep investing in popston. And of course, the heat when temperatures rise above 100 degrees!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I always wanted to work in a place that can inspire me, teach me passion, and be able to Express new ideas POPSTON has all of those things.
My followers always get excited when I make a new flavors for example:
-Dragonfruit chamoy
-Shipley Donuts
-Horchata with cajeta
-BlackBerry ginger lemonade
-Blueberry mojito,
-Passion guava mango and more.
I have become obsessed with making popsicles and ice cream! I fell that Houston is ready to have something of their own to be proud to have, just like Brenham has a blue bell. Houston has POPSTON. My mission is to make vegan and low sugar ice cream pop I like to keep things innovative and fun.
Having fun while making and selling the pops is a priority for me. I discovered my gift thanks to losing my job and having a wife to push me forward, and my customers who have been there since I started.
What were you like growing up?
I was very shy, always wanted to be an astronaut what kind doesn’t. Ice cream was always my thing. Especially banana pudding yumm. I’m the first generation in Texas, when my family went back to central america I really missed Houston and all of the awesome BBQ’S here.
Rodeo especially I was fortunate to witness it inside the Astrodome several times. But I always knew as a native Houstonian I would be back and stay here cause I just love this city way too much.
Pricing:
- Vegan pops $4
- Handmade ice cream pops $4
- Square pops any flavor $5
Contact Info:
- Email: popstontx@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BG2BXg8SMCC/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1sr2y358bvqep
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/popstontx/
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
