Boozy ice lolly brand Pops has fallen into administration.
The brand, whose alcoholic lollies included big-name tie-ups with brands like Pimm’s and Gordon’s, was dogged by cashflow issues and struggled to cope with the seasonality of the market, co-founder James Rae told The Grocer.
“The brand itself and the individual milestones and successes have been great,” he said. “But 95% of our sales were done in a four-month window and the weather wasn’t always on our side.”
Stock and inventory management also proved problematic, Rae added. “[The lollies] were relatively niche products that were always quite innovative and it was always hard to gauge which ones would fly.”
The brand raised £509k in a crowdfunding drive last year, valuing itself at £4.6m.
But documents filed at Companies House show the business had been trading at a loss for the past three years.
Those losses more than doubled for the year ending February 2018 (its latest set of results), rising from £159k to £427k.
Pops has appointed insolvency firm RSM to handle the administration, which Rae said was “the best way to protect the creditors and in turn the investors” rather than “continue and try to raise funds and potentially let people down”.
But it may not mean the end for the brand, whose products are still being sold in Ocado.
Rae said Pops had already attracted two potential suitors - one “a large ice cream company” and the other “a nondescript player in the industry”.
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