our story
Our story
If you’ve popped by La-Pop! for one of our handcrafted gelato popsicles, or even walked past our giant 3D lolly in our Islington Row shop window, you might have noticed we do things a little differently. Which is why we often get asked how it all began...
It all started when…
Like most family businesses, we are inspired by two things: our children and our customers.
In fact, La-Pop! was born thanks to the imagination and wonder of our children who dared to dream strong enough that it gave us an exciting vision for the future.
It all began back in January 2017. As our kids were tucking into their lollies on Jumeirah Beach on a family holiday to Dubai, they said how they wished they could have their own ice-cream shop.
Most parents would have laughed off this kind of fantasy, but we held onto it – and it looked pretty good to us! The power of the first taste of delicious ice cream is truly what has brought La-Pop! to life.
Making it a reality
As a professional chef of more than 20 years, I could see that Birmingham was crying out for a unique twist on an ice-cream shop that offered both premium quality and a fun experience. This is when things got interesting!
As they say, nothing worth having was achieved without effort, so we spent the rest of the year researching the ice-cream industry, learning the art of artisan gelato making and fine-tuning our vision.
We can thank a good friend of ours, for not only coming up with our name ‘La-Pop!’ but also giving us our fun and unique identity through our logo and branding.
In early 2018, we set off on our travels to make our dream come true. First, we headed to Italy, the home of authentic gelato, to source the very best equipment to make our ice-cream (and of course research the best ingredients too)! Next stop was Barcelona to find our coffee machine so we could serve up two of the finest indulgences in our Birmingham gelateria.
By July 2018, things looked like they were finally beginning to take shape. We had selected our shop on Islington Row, Edgbaston, the prefect for unique product.
But, our choice of building company left a lot to be desired and we suffered quite a major financial set-back as a result, by January 2019 we were left with the premises being unfinished and no contractor in place to complete our vision. In spite of this, our desire to make our children's dreams come true and create something unique for the people of Birmingham remained as strong as ever.
In April 2019 – this time with a great team of contractors on board – La-Pop! finally started to come to life again. And by August 2019, we were finally ready to open our doors and share our exciting concept with the people of Birmingham and beyond.
The cherry on top
We can proudly say we’ve done it, serving up gelato lollies that inspire the same excitement of the first ice cream experience in both children and adults.
We’ve come a long way from that dream on a beach in Dubai. But without taking that vision seriously, we wouldn’t have travelled across Europe to source our equipment and throughout the UK, to the likes of Sheffield, Bristol, Southampton, Hereford, Leicestershire, London and South Wales, to source products for our concept and supply chain.
We’ve paid a lot of attention to detail to ensure La-Pop! is exactly what our family envisioned and that it brings something new to our Birmingham customers. It’s been a great ride so far, and we must assure you our journey at La-Pop! has only just begun!
We welcome all of our customers into the La-Pop family, so pop along soon and enjoy the wonderful world of gelato ice cream lollies and flavour combinations at La-Pop!
Happy lickin’,
Abdul