It’s hard for Zachary High School ninth grader Bailey Galloway to believe it, but she’s standing behind the counter of her very own specialty popcorn store.
Three years ago, Bailey and younger sister, Harper, 9, hatched Posh Pop, their then-largely online gourmet popcorn and special events business. After tirelessly selling sweet-savory small-batch popcorn while juggling school and extracurriculars, the girls and their business partner and mom, Ebony McAllister, opened a retail outlet in the Acadian Perkins Plaza Shopping Center.
The soft opening was last Thursday, Oct. 24.
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Bailey, 14, says it’s been a dream fulfilled.
“To be able to say I have a storefront is really great,” she says. “I love it. I like interacting with people over the counter and being able to incorporate other things that aren’t just popcorn. For the longest (time) people were asking when we were going to open a store.”
Earlier this year, the trio had plans to open a brick-and-mortar location in Zachary. But that fell through, leaving them searching throughout the spring and summer for another spot.
“We saw this location and fell in love with it,” McAllister says. The new store is next to Rice & Roux in the popular strip mall at Perkins Road and Acadian Thruway.
With an interior now awash in hot pink and black, the shop sells 14 flavors of the girls’ specialty popcorn. There’s Coco Crunch, popcorn tossed with dark chocolate cookie pieces, brownie brittle and milk chocolate drizzle; Power Up with walnuts, almonds pecans, granola and cranberries; Posh Limon, a blend with lemon cookie, pretzel and lemon drizzle; and many others, including a flavor of the month.
Gourmet popcorn isn’t the only thing on the up-market carnival-fare menu. There are also frozen treats, baked goods, sweets and a few savory items, like hot dogs and nachos. The store’s cheery vibe has selfie walls and comfy seating, inviting customers to sit back and snack.
The ordering counter borrows from traditional sweets shops, McAllister says.
“This first part gives you the classic feel of an ice cream parlor where you’re choosing from the 14 flavors,” McAllister says. Harper, a fourth grader at Zachary Elementary, holds up the two sizes customers can select from, a small bucket or a large tray. Customers progress down the counter, enticed by other treats.
“You might have come in wanting one thing, but then you realize you want something else while you’re here,” McAllister says. “We wanted to be able to offer the best of both worlds and have the concept grow along with the girls.”
Indeed, while McAllister has used her experience in sales and marketing to guide her daughters, Posh Pop has been their brainchild from the beginning.
It was inspired by a quiet night at home just before Christmas in 2020 when the family was watching The Grinch and making homemade popcorn and cookies. A surplus of chocolate-covered pretzels, sprinkles and broken cookie pieces seemed like a tasty addition to the savory popcorn. The girls began experimenting with various snack fusions and an idea was born.
“We sat down to watch the movie and I told my mom, ‘This is really good. I think we’ve got something.’ And after that, it kind of just kind of blew up,” Bailey told 225 in February, while manning the Posh Pop booth at an LSU Gymnastics meet.
It wasn’t a phase—the sisters meant business. A few days after their eureka moment, they had named the product and delivered a Shark Tank-style presentation to their mom, who clapped back with a Christmas present of a company logo and branding package.
Throughout 2021, Bailey and Harper were testing new flavors and selling products online and at events like the Zachary Farmers and Artisans Market. By 2022, they had earned a spot as a youth business at the LSU culinary incubator, Foodii, where they expanded production. It helped them find new markets, like LSU Athletics events. They currently sell concessions at six different LSU sports events, including home football games at Tiger Stadium. This fall, they added Southern University home football games to their lineup, too.
The girls say the three current top popcorn sellers are the caramel-cheese Cheesy Cheddar Bomb, a new salted caramel flavor called Gold Rush, and Saturday Morning, a mash-up of popcorn, Fruity Pebbles, mini marshmallows and white chocolate drizzle.
The menu also includes gourmet Posh Pups (hot dogs), Posh Dogs (sausage po-boys) and cheesy nachos with pico de gallo.
Frozen desserts include the Ice Cream Po-boy, in which scoops of ice cream are flanked by ice cream sandwich wedges and topped with sprinkles and whipped cream. Huckabucks, the homey frozen treat of sweet, flavored liquid frozen in a plastic cup, are also on the menu. Served at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival by Ms. Linda’s Soul Food Catering Co. (the Yaka Mein Lady) and popularized by home cooks across the Deep South, the treats have a cult following. Fans say they’re best eaten by gently dislodging the hunk of frozen liquid and flipping it over to munch on the extra-sweet bottom half first. Posh Pop also sells huckabucks with a scoop of ice cream.
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Many of the sweets in the case are made by other local small businesses, McAllister says. Opt from brightly hued macarons in numerous flavors, colorful cake pops, caramel-dipped pretzel sticks, glossy candy apples, baby pink cupcakes, pralines and dipped Oreos.
“We want to support other small businesses because we know the journey,” McAllister says. The store also features Leroy’s LipSmack’n Lemonade, a fellow Foodii tenant and LSU Athletics vendor.
Posh Pop is located at 3617 Perkins Road, Suite 1F, and is open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., and Sunday, noon–4 p.m. For more information, visit poshpop.shop.