Chelsea Matson Photography
Most of us have relished the cool, fruity goodness of a frozen pop on a sweaty summer day, but Pete Cooney of Pete’s Pops knows people enjoy cool confections year-round. After selling his artisan frozen pops—including blueberry basil lemonade, avocado, Vietnamese iced coffee and coffee ’n doughnuts varieties—from carts at farmers markets, street corners and festivals for five years, this past August, Cooney celebrated the grand opening of a 1,000 square-foot brick-and-mortar location at 3809 W. Vliet St.
Cooney won the Near West Side Partners, Inc.’s 2016 Rev-Up MKE competition. The pitch-style contest, similar to the TV show “Shark Tank,” allows people to present their business ideas for prize money to start or expand their businesses. “The contest vision is to help improve a section of the city, and it’s exciting to put my business somewhere different, somewhere that isn’t the most popular neighborhood in the city, and somewhere that could use a boost of positivity,” Cooney said.
NWSP’s partners include Marquette University, from where Cooney is an alumnus. He said it’s been exciting and even a little scary to put in his first purchase order for very expensive freezers, but it feels good to have a permanent home. “We’re serious about the business, but not too serious, because it’s pop that’s supposed to be fun and carefree,” he said.
Cooney had always been interested in food and worked as an accountant for the Bartolotta Restaurants. He heard about little frozen pops businesses that were starting all over the country, and while visiting his hometown of St. Louis, he tried an avocado frozen pop. He thought small batch frozen pops would go over well in Milwaukee.
His first few flavors—such as avocado, strawberry basil and pineapple jalapeño—were made in a rented commercial kitchen. “I bought a cart and some molds on Amazon, and I said I’d do it just for the summer and see how it goes. It was fun, and I didn’t lose any money. Then I decided to do it another summer, and it kind of snowballed. Over the last couple of years, it’s turned a corner from a side project to a business,” he said.
Pete’s Pops still has six carts that appear at farmers markets, street festivals and catered and corporate events. The frozen pops are Cooney’s original recipes and experimenting with seasonal selections inspires new flavors. Cooney works with Tree Ripe Citrus, a local company that imports quality peaches from Georgia and blueberries from Michigan.
“Once we get these great blueberries, we think ‘what can we do with them?’ So, we’ve had blueberry pie, which is an ice cream bar with a homemade crust swirled into the middle. Blueberry season also coincides with basil season, and that’s how the popular blueberry basil lemonade pop came about,” he explained.
Cooney shops at area farmers markets and Pete’s Fruit Market; he also has relationships with local growers. Milwaukee-based Rishi Tea makes tea for the Thai iced tea pop, and the sweet corn and blackberry swirl pop is made with local corn. The cream style pops have a real custard base. Flavors rotate, and at any given time, there are six to eight flavors available at the carts and more than 20 at the storefront, sold individually or in larger qualities. Pop prices average $2 to $4 each.
For more information, visit petespops.net.
