Happy Pops: Success comes in many flavours

After graduating with a degree in kinesiology from the University of Toronto, Leila Keshavjee began noticing that food products often spelled out the ingredients in a convoluted and misleading way.

What alarmed her most was that the call-outs on packaging bringing attention to the various health benefits of the product were far outweighed by harmful artificial flavours and additives in the ingredient list.

Some products clearly had no nutritional value, yet the packaging would tell a different story.

She chose to put her dreams of becoming a physician on hold, and to start a company that uses clean, natural ingredients, with packaging that clearly indicates every ingredient.

With that mission at its core, Happy Pops was born in 2016 and the company has been on the rise ever since.

Happy Pops creates handcrafted, all-natural frozen treats in small batches. There are over 35 different vegan and gluten free flavours.

“Happy Pops is a clean-ingredient snack that tastes delicious and that’s what is satisfying,” says Keshavjee. “It’s half a serving of fruit per bar and an average of 50-70 calories.”

In 2018, Keshavjee successfully applied to be a candidate on the hit CBC television show Dragon’s Den, in which she received four separate offers from the judges. She appeared in the season premiere of Season 13 and launched retail packaging in early 2019.

“Winning this award proved to me that all the late nights and personal sacrifice have been worth it,” she said following her win.

“I want to thank my team and my family for their support and commitment. My goal is to make Happy Pops available in every province across Canada in the next few months. Knowing that our customers enjoy and benefit from the all-natural products we produce is so incredibly rewarding.”

She is closer to achieving her dream. Happy Pops proved that it has the right ingredients for success at the 2019 Grocery Innovations Canada (GIC) trade show, Canada’s premiere grocery trade show, featuring over 320 food and retail exhibitors from around the globe.

It walked away with the title Winner of the 2019 Grocery Innovations Top Ten in Grocery Award and Keshavjee was on site to accept the award during the annual trade-only show.

Veteran industry adjudicators select the Top Ten from over 700 new products.

Many retail outlets and grocery stores rely on this showcase to determine the types of products that will stock their own shelves in the coming year. Naturally, the Top Ten winners go straight to the top of that list. 

Happy Pops has a growing list of over 100 retail partners and counting. They also feature catering, custom corporate branding and wholesale. More info at www.happypops.ca.

• If you’d like to share the story of your arrival in Canada, please write to desinews@rogers.com or call 416-695-4357.