Courtesy Pete's Pops
It seems there's hardly a food, beverage, or madcap idea that can't be translated to a frozen treat by the entrepreneurs behind Pete's Pops, one of the newest curbside offerings guaranteed to cool down St. Louisans this summer. From gooey butter donut and salted watermelon to horchata and pineapple jalapeno to such drinks as a root beer float and Arnold Palmer, the flavor list at Pete's Pops (with more than 30 flavors and counting) suggests these aren't your average popcicles.
The trio behind the brand, Tim Garvey, his wife, Jamie, and his brother, Matt, have been slinging popsicles from pushcarts and coolers since last fall.
The home base for the business (and its two massive chest freezers) is the Hampton Avenue location of Pretzel Boy's, another business the trio launched here in 2011. Today, fans can get their popsicle fix at a permanent curbside window next to World's Fair Donuts, which is now owned by Jason Bockman of Strange Donuts.
Courtesy Pete's Pops
The new spot is hardly a coincidence. The team forged a relationship with Bockman earlier this year, after doing a gooey butter donut collaboration. When they found out that he had extra space, the move seemed obvious.
“In retrospect, with COVID happening and a lot of formal events not happening, it was nice to have a spot where people could just find us,” says Jamie Garvey.
Curbside hours are daily from 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Visitors can expect a selection of around 10 flavors that occasionally rotate, usually by month or based on what fruits are in season. Garvey says they've just bought a haul of peaches, for example, as part of their newest endeavor: the Georgia peach pop.
Pete Cooney of Pete's Pops is a high school friend of the Garveys and originally launched the brand in Milwaukee before the Garveys brought it to St. Louis. Jamie says they have a foundation of 20 to 30 recipes from Cooney, and from there, it's a matter of trial and error. “What you think might be good based on normal preferences most of the time translates well into a frozen popsicle, but not always,” says Jamie.
When coming up with new flavors, she says they try to put themselves in the shoes of what a 12-year-old would want to experience—before the COVID-19 pandemic, they would normally attend school events and sports tournaments. They almost always have such staples as the fudgesicle on hand, but the majority of their selection favors the experiential—think cantalope lemongrass instead of orange or blueberry basil instead of cherry.
“They like the experience almost just as much as they hopefully end up liking what they're eating,” Jamie says. “They love their classics as much as they like trying that weird combo flavor that they wouldn't have considered before.”
Photo by George Mahe
In June, the trio rolled out a boldly colored food truck, which can be booked for socially distanced summertime events and neighborhood pop-ups. Push carts and coolers can be rented as well.
For more information, email PetesPops.STL@gmail.com.
