Our Story
Our story begins in the fall of 2019 when Emma, our daughter, and Rebecca, also known as Mom, decided to participate in the Chandler Woods Charter Academy’s Fall Craft Show. As our son, Zach, listened to the conversation he spoke up and said he did not want to be left out. The only problem with his desire to participate was that he had no idea what he was going to make, so the family brainstorming began. We all agreed that food would be the best idea, especially handheld food and that is when Emma suggested the idea of cake pops. “Cake pops,” I asked, what in the world were cake pops and then the research began.
Before you know it, Zach had decided on the designs and flavors of the cake pop’s he wanted to make. Then the journey began of a father and son shopping at the grocery and hobby stores to find all the ingredients and items needed to make them. After an initial attempt at using store bought frosting and cake mix, which just did not taste good, father and son spent time watching videos of how to make everything from scratch. This was it, baking from scratch was tasty, the designs looked cute, and ZacPops was officially born. We took everything we had created and were off to Chandler Woods to sell some cake pops.
Our First Craft Show (2019)
Northview Craft Show (2019)
Zach was nervous to be in front of strangers and I was hoping he would sell a few to feel good about the work he did. That is when everything changed, because he did not just sell a few, he sold out of almost all the designs by the end of the show. From there we entered both the Rockford and Northview craft shows trying to sell a few more and working at improving the flavors and designs. The work was rewarded by selling hundreds more at each show, along with getting some special orders including the ask for a birthday cake.
Since then, Zach and I have continued to try and improve the recipes, create new flavors, and try our hands at making birthday and ice cream cakes. During the same time both Emma and Rebecca joined us with their ability to design and decorate both cakes and cake pops. In a year of a worldwide pandemic that changed so many lives we were able to find blessings working on orders for ZacPops. Through it all Rebecca and I have been able to teach Zach and Emma firsthand about tithing, savings, paying back costs, re-investing, and of course spending some on themselves. Along with the financial lessons, we have been able to teach them about working as a team, showing grace and encouragement both in failure and success, and finding ways to bless others as God has blessed them.
So here I am a year later trying to write a synopsis of our story that is being posted to our new website, which was created and designed by Emma. We will continue to improve the website to open it up for custom orders for cakes, cake pops, and some new desserts yet to come. In the meantime, we hope you try some of our cake pops and want to send a special thank you from Zach and Emma for supporting ZacPops!