Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Goetz.
Hi Daniel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As a student at the University of Texas in 2009, I was looking for something refreshing on a hot Austin day. I couldn’t think of any options other than the Austin summertime staple, the sno-cone. At the snow-cone stand, I asked, “What’s in that syrup?” and the employee responded with a shoulder shrug. I thought there had to be something better out there that was delicious and made with natural ingredients and couldn’t seem to find it.
I searched out places that carried traditional Mexican-style paletas naturales or natural frozen fruit bars and found a similar predicament: artificial flavoring, coloring and unpronounceable ingredients. So…I set out to make a frozen pop inspired by Mexican-style paletas made with fresh fruit. Two months later, GoodPop hit the market… well, the farmer’s market. It wasn’t long before GoodPops became a hit at four Austin markets, which are some of the most discerning farmers’ markets in the country. We’ve grown a lot since then and how our frozen treats can be found in Whole Foods and other natural and specialty retailers in 40+ states across the United States.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are an infinite number of things that can keep us up at night. Supply, labor, inflation, etc. – the one thing that’s highest on my radar is ensuring that we are taking great care of our people.
We are all asking a lot of our teams right now as we collectively work to solve issues in this current market. These external pressures and increased workload can cause a high-stress workday.
Leadership should be going above and beyond to ensure that our teams are having fun, enjoying their work, and feeling excited to come in to fight the good fight. This all starts with ensuring our coworkers and colleagues are feeling supported, heard, and appreciated – personally and professionally. Check-in with your folks, folks.
As you know, we’re big fans of GoodPop. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
I dreamt up GoodPop in class while I was still a student at UT. I started selling pops at the local farmers market and I used those funds to produce enough pops to sell at ACL in 2009. I was going to use the profits from ACL to finally make packaging for GoodPop to sell in stores. Well if you remember ACL 2009 you might recall that the entire weekend got rained out, Zilker Park became a mud pit and I only sold a handful of pops, no kidding! That was rough because I had big dreams but I didn’t let that deter me. I went back to class, back to the drawing board and back to the farmer’s markets. And my patience paid off – in 2011 a company in NYC was doing activation and sought me out to produce pops. It was enough that I was able to finally fund packaging for GoodPop and launch 6 flavors in select Whole Foods Market stores in Austin and Houston. This was truly the catalyst for GoodPop’s growth and where we are today as a company – now a national brand at Whole Foods Market and many retailers across the country.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
GoodPop’s dedication to using quality ingredients can be perceived as a risk. We will never budge on our commitment to using premium, fair trade sourced ingredients to make delicious pops and that can certainly be a challenge sometimes – the pool of overseas suppliers that are treating their employees fairly, paying above minimum wage and farming sustainably can be limited. And as we all know supply chain has been a challenge. But we work diligently to ensure we buffer in lead times with our suppliers. We could easily go with cheaper options that would allow us to get access to something quicker but we believe a GOOD ingredient is more than the way it tastes, it’s how it’s sourced and who is sourcing it.
Our dedication to ingredients is an example of my view on risk. It’s balanced with the intention of maintaining our quality standards, staying true to our values and taking care of our people, all of which are more important than the speed at which we grow as a company.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.GoodPops.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GoodPop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodPops
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodPop
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@goodpop
Image Credits
GoodPop
