Cookies and cream, blue raspberry, key lime pie, dark chocolate-dipped cold brew — there’s a flavor for everyone at Frios Gourmet Pops. Made with simple, quality ingredients, Frios aims to create fresh, hand-poured frozen treats that taste exactly like what they are named.
While the flavors may be the initial attraction to Frios, owner Cliff Kennedy says people of all ages keep coming back because of the way the pops make them feel.
His whirlwind journey with Frios began in Mobile in 2018.
Stuck in traffic and feeling miserable, Kennedy saw carefree children enjoying Frios pops and pulled over to try one for himself. While enjoying a key lime-flavored pop, he felt his stress give way to happiness.
“It literally changed my life,” says Kennedy. “I decided I had to be part of this company.”
Kennedy bought out the owner of the local franchise in May of 2018.
Frios became Kennedy’s side hustle while he continued to work as director of sales in his family’s business in the oil and gas industry.
“I quickly realized that Frios is an amazing product” that lacked the infrastructure and support it needed, Kennedy says.
That August he called the original owner of Frios with a bold offer. He wanted to buy the entire company. Negotiations began and, with the help of family and friends, Kennedy completed the purchase on December 21, 2018.
He moved the company’s headquarters from Gadsden to Mobile. “The business culture in the state of Alabama has been a great support,” says Kennedy.
Kennedy traces his entrepreneurial drive back to his grandfather, who — with an eighth-grade education — started a business out of the trunk of his car and grew it into a successful company, Gulf Supply. At a young age, Kennedy worked for the business sweeping warehouse floors. Years later, when Hurricane Katrina hit, Kennedy left business school to begin working full-time with his family, where he stayed for more than a decade before leaving to lead Frios.
“I think it’s a part of my grandfather’s DNA in me — wanting to control your own destiny,” says Kennedy. “I love the family business. I just needed to do my own thing.”
When Kennedy started with Frios, the company had 18 brick-and-mortar locations across the country. At the time, they had carts that could be taken to events and birthday parties to deliver pops.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, franchisees began to put the carts on trailers and take them to neighborhoods.
“People started writing the Frios logo in sidewalk chalk and sending letters thanking us for bringing happiness to their neighborhood while the kids couldn’t go to school and missed spending time with their friends,” says Kennedy.
This time period helped him solidify the Frios ethos of selling happiness for a living and inspired a drastic change to the company’s business model.
Sitting at his desk one day, Kennedy was struck with the realization that Frios needed to shutter every brick-and-mortar location as quickly as possible and pivot to modern-day ice cream trucks.
“I hate what COVID did to the world, but it was transformative to my company,” says Kennedy. “I don’t know if I would have seen this vision without the timing.”
The Frios franchise offering was rewritten to go completely mobile. Decisions had to be made about a color scheme for the new vehicles, called Sweet Rides. “We purchased a van, wrapped it in tie-dye, put a freezer in and never looked back,” Kennedy says.
Frios franchisees are called Happiness Hustlers. With more than 100 locations operating within 25 states, Frios Sweet Rides can be found across the country. Recent additions include Boston, Massachusetts, and Houston and Austin, Texas.
Kennedy estimates that numbers will rise to 300 or 400 franchises in the next several years. “In five to 10 years, I would love to have 600-800 more locations spreading happiness,” he says. “We are such a diverse group of owners because that’s part of our core culture.”
Several of Frios’ franchisees have come from other countries for the opportunity to open a business in the U.S., and the majority of franchise owners are women. The average investment in Frios Gourmet Pops ranges from $62,900 to $93,000. “Most people buy a business with their children’s future in mind,” says Kennedy. “Frios is a business you can buy with your kids now.” With just a freezer and a serving window inside the Sweet Rides, kids are able to participate alongside their parents.
Though Kennedy concedes that Frios is a very seasonal business due to the nature of its products, he jokes that people don’t stop putting ice in their drinks just because it gets cold outside. “You have to change up strategies and move indoors,” Kennedy says. “There are still great opportunities for holiday gifts.” During the winter months, Frios plans to release seasonal flavors like white chocolate peppermint and will relaunch nine retired flavors that longtime Frios fans will be sure to recognize.
Frios has expanded its product line to include the Frios Plus Protein collection. Inspired by residents at senior homes and hospital patients who need assistance in meeting their daily caloric intake, these products contain up to 17 grams of protein.
Frios values giving back to the communities in which it operates. When Kennedy first became a franchisee, he placed a freezer at Children and Women’s Hospital, a place near and dear to his heart, that has remained stocked with free Frios pops for patients to this day.
“These kids don’t deserve what they’ve got going on in their lives,” says Kennedy. “We hope they can just enjoy a Frios in their hospital bed with their parents or friends and put a smile on their face.” Kennedy says that all of his franchisees have wonderful stories about giving back, and the company has a program that allows Frios owners to request free pops to distribute if there’s something devastating that occurs in their community.
Dec. 21, 2025, will mark seven years since Kennedy took the helm of Frios. Under his leadership, Frios has experienced steady growth, adding 26 new franchises so far this year, and transitioned to a new marketing message.
“We sell amazing, flavored pops, but what we really sell is what they make you feel,” says Kennedy. “Maybe you’ve been stressed at work but go have a Frios pop with your kids or by yourself. It’s impossible to eat one and not feel happy or put yourself in a better place.”
Kathleen Farrell and Mike Kittrell are Mobile-based freelance contributors to Business Alabama.
This article appears in the November 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
