Not long after moving back to his hometown of Lake Charles, Nick Villaume asked his childhood friend, Robbie Austin, if he would go into business with him. Villaume dreamed of starting and operating a gourmet frozen pops business. Pops? As in Popsicles? Robbie needed some convincing, to say the least.
There’s nothing new about flavored ice on a stick. Popsicles (a registered trademark Villaume and Austin try to avoid using) have been around since 1923.
But a Pops and Rockets pop is no ordinary frozen dessert. When Villaume, a visionary with a mind for business, and Austin, a creative genius, put their heads together, they developed a unique plan, and transformed their kitchens into mini-pop-making factories. The business is formally called Pops and Rockets: Gourmet Tour De Force Fresh Flavors Frozen On A Stick, but everyone simply calls them Pops and Rockets.
Pops and Rockets set up shop at the Cash and Carry Farmers Market on July 29, 2014. Since then, they’ve sold over 6,000 pops. They’ve produced hundreds more, but they give many pops away, through their marketing programs.
The business’ quick success has been a surprise to both owners. But with flavors like Mexican Radio (chocolate and jalapeno); Karma Chameleon (watermelon mint); Sweet Child ‘O Lime (key lime); Rice, Rice Baby (rice milk with cinnamon and vanilla); Raspberry Brulee; Every Little Tea She Does in Mango (sweet tea, mango, cherry); Cran Halen (cranberry and satsuma); and Pepper in Pink (strawberry and cracked peppercorn), who can resist such novelty?
If the flavor names remind you of songs, bands and movies from the 1980s, you’re exactly right. Villaume and Austin grew up in the ‘80s, and spent hours listening to music and attending dances together. The name of the company is based on the ‘80s alternative rock band Love and Rockets. The two continue to enjoy and listen to music from that era. One thing that surprises them about their success is how well people of all generations — especially teenagers who aren’t familiar with the ‘80s culture — can relate to the concept.
“It doesn’t matter if they get the song references, or if they know a particular band,” says Austin. “If we’re true to the design of the era, it just creates an aura and mood. It’s exciting.”
Creative Confections
It was this clever angle and creative potential that finally convinced Austin to partner with Villaume. “I don’t live in the past, but my brain certainly lights up when it comes to music, particularly ‘80s music,” says Austin. “It’s true, Nick had to drag me into it. But it wasn’t necessarily the pops that got me excited, at first. It was coming up with the flavor names and the visuals of the operation. Once we started playing with the flavor combinations — that was exciting, as well.”
While Austin is thrilled by the creative nature of the business, Villaume thrives on the details. “For me, it’s the operation itself which is the creative outlet — getting everything organized, figuring out the kitchen space, what we’re going to do for storage, where we’re going to sell,” he says.
Villaume, who builds and designs websites with his company, called DEV Department, is also primarily responsible for marketing Pops and Rockets via social media and a website, popsandrockets.com.
As a side benefit for Austin, this venture has rejuvenated his art career. He teaches religion and fine arts survey at St. Louis High School. Though he earned a master’s in fine arts with a concentration in sculpture from UCLA, he says in recent years he set aside his creative nature. “It was an intentional burying of my artistic self. I had been content with what I had, growing my family, settling in and being a high school teacher,” he says. “The creative outlet was limited to the theater of my classroom. But, over the past year, Pops and Rockets has been a fantastic creative outlet for me. I feel so much more out there — doing things with my hands — than I have since 1998.”
Austin currently has an exhibit of his art work, called Glimmer Twins, hanging at the Imperial Calcasieu Museum through Feb. 27.
The Path To Pop-Making
Villaume and Austin met in the fifth grade at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, and were good friends through high school. After graduation, they remained friends, but eventually went their separate ways. Villaume moved to New Orleans in 1994, and from there he moved to Atlanta, where he lived for several years. Austin left Lake Charles in 1992, and went to art school in California, but returned to Lake Charles in 1995 to raise his family. The two friends had not seen each other for 15 years, until Villaume moved back to Lake Charles in 2013. He wasted no time reconnecting with his old friend.
Villaume first got the idea to start a pop shop in 2006, when he visited a cousin in Nashville and discovered Las Paletas, a simple storefront with freezers and a chalkboard listing the day’s flavors, which Villaume describes as “the epicenter for pops culture.” When he lived in Atlanta, he encountered another popular pops joint call King of Pops, which further piqued his interest in exploring the possibilities. As happens with so many dreams, life intervened, and the notion was shelved for a time. But when Villaume moved back to Lake Charles, he saw potential. After he recruited Austin, his dream became a reality.
Villaume and Austin started making the pops in their home kitchens. Word spread, and demand increased, so they now lease storage space and a commercial kitchen in the nether regions of the Historic Calcasieu Marine Bank, where Villaume’s website development business is located. Presently, they have the capability to make 200 pops per day. Realistically, given time constraints, they can only produce pops three days a week.
“Now that we have this [commercial] kitchen, it’s a lot easier,” says Villaume. “Robbie comes in during his off time, and mixes up giant batches of mix. My office is upstairs, and I come down early in the morning, on lunch breaks, after work, or during the day, and can do the production and packaging.”
They call their kitchen the “Pop Lab,” because they truly do experiment with flavors. They have developed 34 flavors to date, with more in the works. Villaume calls Austin the “Willy Wonka of pop making.”
“It’s a Peter Pan reality,” says Austin. Villaume adds, “I can call myself a professional pop maker! How many people can say that”
Villaume and Austin debuted their gourmet pops at the Tuesday afternoon Cash and Carry Farmers Market last summer, and they were an instant hit. Spurred by their success, they added the Saturday morning Charlestown Farmers Market to their schedule. As their popularity grew, they were asked to attend events. Being good businessmen, they complied. But even with the help of their families, the two men had their limits.
“We started feeling like we might be headed to implosion,” says Villaume. “I know enough about business to know that the worst thing you can do is implode by over-committing.”
The partners agreed to curb events for a while. They needed time to catch their breath. They also stopped going to the Charlestown Market, which is outdoors, during the winter months. As demand naturally decreases in cooler weather, they cut back production to 200 pops a month.
Balancing Act
Villaume and Austin have a 50/50 partnership, and their different personalities and business styles complement each other. “I’m a serial entrepreneur, and I overcommit myself to the point where I lose my mind,” says Villaume. “Robbie is really good about balance in his life. Family is incredibly important to him. My family is important to me, too, but we’re kind of like a three ring circus, and make time when we can, whereas (Austin) has very intentional time and activity.”
Austin has three children, ages 6, 7 and 11. Villaume has two children living at home, ages 15 and 12, and an adult daughter in Atlanta.
Austin was initially reluctant to join Villaume in his venture, because he worried it would conflict with his family time. “I have what I consider an idyllic existence,” says Austin. “(As a teacher], I spend a lot of time with my kids because of the academic calendar. When Nick asked me to do this, part of my fear, in addition to the time commitment, was that it would disrupt this harmonious flow I have with myself, my family, and the people around me. It hasn’t. It’s because Nick takes care of the stuff that I don’t have an interest in or know anything about.”
Despite Austin’s ordered lifestyle, he admits life can get a bit crazy for him, as well. This is when Villaume’s level-headed nature comes into play. “Nick keeps me calm,” says Austin. “He has a good vision.”
Villaume says he and Austin get along well, and never argue. “If he has an idea, I generally agree, and vice versa.”
While Villaume and Austin are enjoying a slight pop-making hiatus this winter, the respite is temporary. Though it is January, they are already making plans and gearing up for spring. In addition to the farmers markets, they look forward to selling pops at Contraband Days, Downtown at Sundown, Live at the Lakefront, and numerous festivals.
A Community-Wide Campaign
To meet the demand for more pops in the spring, Villaume and Austin know they’ll have to significantly step up production. It is for this reason they are in the market for new production equipment, which will give them the capability to make 200 pops an hour. In order to fund this new equipment, they recently held a fundraising campaign via the indiegogo website. With incentives of free pops, t-shirts and various party packages, they invited the public to participate in their fundraising efforts.
“We had the ability to raise funds traditionally, but we saw this as a way to involve the community with what we’re doing, which was our primary motivation,” says Villaume. They only raised about half their goal, but they were pleased with that. “It made the public more aware of Pops and Rockets,” added Villaume.
A Business Vision For Lake Charles
Villaume and Austin see great potential for Lake Charles. Both men left Lake Charles, but they each came back. Austin says he returned because he loved growing up in Lake Charles, and wanted to raise his own family here.
Villaume and his wife, Mary, and their family came back ostensibly to care for Villaume’s father, who is elderly. “However,” he adds, “Mary and I had wanted to get out of Atlanta for a while. There’s a trend now where young professionals are leaving big cities and moving to smaller communities, because they can. We have the Internet, and we can do our jobs anywhere. We can telecommute, and start a company that works economically the same as if it were in a big city.
“Smaller cities all over the country — for example, Greenville S.C., Asheville, N.C., Lincoln, Neb., places in Ohio — are thriving. Mary and I were part of that trend. I never thought I’d move back to Lake Charles. But after moving here, I quickly realized there’s a lot going on. I had no idea Lake Charles was sitting on the cusp of an economic boom. The rest of the country has no idea.”
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