At any given moment, there’s a running list of ice pop ideas going through Chris Taylor’s head. Sometimes inspiration strikes in unexpected places, like when he was on a flight and the crew started handing out small packets of Biscoff cookies to passengers. His frozen treat business, Mempops, sells a popular Cookies & Cream ice pop—why not use the same base but swap out the chocolate for Biscoff cookie butter? “Boom,” he thought. “I’ll just change a couple of things and have a whole new flavor.”
Who
Chris Taylor BA ’99
Major
Economics
Most Unusual Pop-Up Location
Memphis’s Elmwood Cemetery
L&C Mentor
Eban Goodstein, Professor of Economics
Mempops, based in Memphis, Tennessee, began selling handcrafted “pops,” as Taylor calls them, in 2015. After graduating from Lewis & Clark with a degree in economics, he built a career working in restaurants, holding a range of positions in both the kitchen and management. Taylor had long wanted to explore entrepreneurship, and a visit to his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and the local “pop shop” clarified things. His wife, on the drive back home, suggested he start making his own ice pops. Before the couple had even crossed state lines, he had several ice pop molds on order.
Mempops began with a clear vision: The business would sell ice pops with creative flavors and natural ingredients in and around Memphis. Developing the flavors involved trial and error, but some of the earliest experiments proved to be hits—staples like Fudge and Strawberry Lemonade, and more adventurous offerings like Avocado Lime, are still on the menu. To keep ingredients fresh and local, Taylor drew from relationships he had built over time in the food business. One example, Jones Orchard, in Millington, Tennessee, continues to provide Mempops with seasonal produce, from peaches to berries and figs.
“At the beginning, I thought, ‘We’re going to go to every event,’” Taylor says. “I don’t care if we sell a single pop. Let’s just go and get our name out there.” He bought and renovated an Airstream trailer, which made the business mobile. He then traveled to gatherings at churches, schools, corporate events—nothing was off-limits. In a matter of months, the business had developed a following from its regular appearances at places like the local farmers market.
In 2016, Mempops opened its first brick-and-mortar store in East Memphis and hired its first staff member, an “ice pop chef.” Now, the business has two stores, five Airstream trailers, 15 carts, and a 2,000-foot commercial kitchen to support operations. In the summers, when demand spikes, 50 part-time and 10 full-time employees are making and selling ice pops. Those first few flavors have since grown to a rotating menu of over 150 recipes, tailored to the season.
Given its success, people often speculate about whether the business will expand past Tennessee. In 2025, Mempops sold more than 400,000 ice pops over the course of the summer. In a single week, the business sold 2,500 Strawberry Lemonade pops alone. But Mempops is Memphis, he explains. “It’s homegrown. All the things people associate with Memphis—whether it’s a high school football game or a music festival—we’ll be there. That’s what’s made us part of the city.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for change or innovation. In addition to the menu of traditional ice pops, Mempops now sells alcohol-infused pops in flavors such as Hibiscus Margarita and Moscow Mule, as well as “Mempups” for dogs—frozen treats made with chicken stock, roasted sweet potatoes, and brown rice. And of course, there is that running list of new flavor combinations waiting to be tested.
Don’t bother asking Taylor what his favorite Mempops flavor is. “It’s like asking me about my favorite child. It depends on the day,” he jokes. But today? Taylor is partial to Blackberry Lemon Rose. It’s not on the menu in the off-season, but summer is just around the corner.
