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Entrepreneur launches all-natural alcoholic popsicles, targets foodservice

After recognizing the need for an all-natural alcoholic popsicle, this entrepreneur secured a patent, built a manufacturing facility and targeted foodservice accounts. To meet the growing consumer demand, Buzz Pop Cocktails launched a food truck.

Partners Juan Sastre, left, and Joseph Isaacs, right, welcome Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans to their food truck.

December 30, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Starting a business from scratch was the last thing on Joseph Isaacs' mind when he got a call from his son, Jason, a couple years ago. Isaacs was enjoying his retirement, having owned and operated a cheesecake company and several other businesses over the past three decades.

Buzz Pops are available in numerous fruit varieties.

But when Jason, a gourmet chef in Las Vegas, said he found a way to freeze alcohol and make it into a sorbet, dad kept listening. It wasn't long before he was on a plane to Las Vegas, his entrepreneurial wheels spinning in his head.

Isaacs spent six months researching the young, but rapidly growing alcoholic popsicle market, which he claims is now a multi-million dollar industry. "There wasn't anybody out there doing it and doing it well," he told Food Truck Operator.

A manufacturing business takes shape

He then put his food manufacturing experience to work, perfected a production process, patented it, and began working on a production facility in Las Vegas. In less than a year, Buzz Pop Cocktails transformed from a concept to a reality.

"There's nothing else like it anywhere in the world," Isaacs said for his product, which he calls the Rolls Royce of alcoholic popsicles. The Buzz Pop contains a full shot of alcohol and is all natural, fat-free, vegan, gluten-free, certified kosher, under 100 calories, and has no artificial flavors, colors, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup. The product contains fresh fruit, cold fruit juices and premium spirits.

Isaac describes the product, packaged in a 1950s style push pop, as a smooth, rich textured, authentic, homogenous Italian sorbet that is not sticky and doesn't puddle.

"The first mouthful tastes exactly like the middle mouthful, tastes exactly like the last mouthful," Isaacs said. "Alcohol doesn't rise to the top, sink to the bottom or get stuck in the middle."

A unique product

The company manufactures the Buzz Pops using a patented process.

Isaacs claims the problem with most products in the space is that they do not freeze properly. Most are sold in a liquid state and need to be frozen before they are consumed.

But that's not the main problem. "The problem with those products is they are 100% artificial," Isaacs said.

Some competitors might challenge Isaacs' claims about his product's uniqueness, but few would dispute that his market strategy differs from most by not focusing on the retail sector. Isaacs, unlike most market players, has specifically targeted foodservice outlets, such as restaurants, caterers, hotels, sports arenas, resorts and convention facilities.

After building the production facility and handling intellectual property issues, at a cost of close to $600,000, Isaacs began producing and selling the product in 2017. He did most of the sales and marketing single handedly, selling product by the pallet.

The company currently has about 70 customers who buy tens of thousands of dollars' worth of product with every order, according to Isaacs.

Target market: foodservice, not retail

"I don't want to be in the equipment business, I want to be in the Buzz Pop business," Isaacs said, a strategy that distinguishes him from alcoholic popsicle manufacturers that focus on retail outlets and are therefore forced to provide freezers to their customers.

Isaacs' success winning some big name customers — like Caesar's Entertainment, Levy Restaurants, TAO Group, Waldorf Astoria, 4 Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Marriott and Disney Springs — has earned a fair amount of media coverage in the last two years.

But the more visible the Buzz Pop became, the more people wanted it. Isaacs was getting deluged with requests to bring the product to new markets. Hence, the Buzz Pop truck.

A need for a food truck

Isaacs and his partner, Juan Sastre, decided to create a food truck in the first quarter of 2019 to make the product available to more consumers. After creating their own food truck, they began offering food trucks to franchisees this past July.

"We never wanted to be in the business of selling retail; we wanted to continue with the business model that we had and be a manufacturer and ship in large quantities," he said. "I came to the conclusion that the only way to get the product in the hands of millions of additional people would be to set up some form of a franchise."

"Now I basically have franchises that are buying the product in bulk from us and retailing it to the general public all over the country," he said.

Part two of this two-part series will explore Buzz Pop Cocktail's successful food truck launch.

Photos courtesy of Buzz Pop Cocktails.

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.