From Dessert 'Disaster' to Sweet Success, the Story Behind JC's Pie Pops
JC's Pie Pops are sold in 4,000 grocery stores across the US.
— -- A culinary accident has turned into a million-dollar success in the frozen-food aisle for Jennifer Constantine.
Cooked up in a kitchen in Chatsworth, California, in 2010, JC's Pie Pops are now in nearly 4,000 -- and counting -- grocery stores across the US.
It all started when Constantine was making dessert for her husband. She'd put her famous panna cotta custard into the refrigerator, as she'd always done. But the freezer had another plan in mind.
"My refrigerator disagreed with me and decided to freeze everything in it," Constantine said. "Sodas exploded. It was a disaster."
Her panna cotta was frozen solid but as Constantine was about to toss it in the trash, her husband entered the kitchen and took a bite.
"[He said,] 'Oh my God. You need to do something with this,'" she said.
So Constantine did, adding a little crunch and testing out different flavors, including Mint Chocolate Cookie, Banana Cream and Key Lime. The result: JC's Pie Pops.
Constantine said she'd gotten her big break when she won a $100,000 Mission Main Street Grant from Chase Bank, which supports small businesses all over the US.
Her company now makes 43,000 pops a day in Chatsworth. The pops are offered in Whole Foods, Stop N Shop and Safeway, to name a few supermarkets. She employs 44 workers and has hired an additional 22, even adding people who were recently laid off by US giant Nestle.
"We're very proud of that," Constantine said.
