Chris Taylor and his family were visiting Birmingham when they noticed all the folks in the popsicle shop Steel City Pops. It was January.
Taylor, who had worked in various restaurants, thought to himself, “I could do this.” (That his opening his own restaurant was his wife’s worst nightmare played some part too.)
He launched MEMPopS in April, selling his fruit-based popsicles from a cart at the Cooper-Young Farmers Market, the Tennessee Brewery, and other places.
On Friday, 4 to 9 p.m., he’s debuting the new MEMPopS truck at its new permanent location at the Memphis Made Brewing Company. The truck will be at that spot Thursday and Friday, 4 to 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.
Some of the MEMPopS: roasted peach, sweet cherry, watermelon basil (pictured), watermelon cucumber, strawberry, blueberry lemonade, pineapple coconut, mint lemonade, and avocado lime.
Taylor says he creates his flavors by taking whatever produce is in season and then “messing around.” He says the trickiest part is making them look pretty. He gives the ones that don’t work out to his kids.
As for the new truck, it’s an old mail truck, which was being used to sell shaved ice. It already had a freezer. Taylor moved some stuff around and added the MEMPopS logo and was pretty much done. And because he already knew Memphis Made’s Drew Barton and Andy Ashby through working at Central BBQ, getting the spot was simply a matter of asking.
As of now, Taylor is sticking to fruit popsicles. There are no beersicles in the works, alas, but he says he’s thought about popsicles that would go in a beer, making for one ice-cold shandy.
