{"id":554403,"date":"2026-07-17T13:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/554403\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:05:10","slug":"its-taken-off-like-a-rocket-artisan-irish-ice-pop-maker-kahuna-pops-thriving-in-the-heat-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/554403\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s taken off like a rocket\u2019: Artisan Irish ice-pop maker Kahuna Pops thriving in the heat \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Ian Downes, a native of Tallaght<\/a> in Dublin, the dream started in lockdown<\/a>. <\/p>\n

While on the beach one day, Downes (50) said to his son Leon (now 14) that \u201cpops used to be really fun when I was little; they aren\u2019t any more\u201d and an idea was born: to bring fun back to the ice-pop world. <\/p>\n

He went home and began to boil syrups, squash fruit and mix milk until he perfected the Kahuna Pop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sold my car,\u201d he says. \u201cThen I bought a little van and we did it up and we started doing farmers\u2019 markets. The markets were great for giving a small business<\/a> like us a start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Kahuna Pops has \u201ctaken off like a rocket\u201d. \u201cWhat was really just a lockdown project has turned into a full-time family business for us. We did the markets for two years and we kept getting so many people saying we\u2019d love to see you in our shop.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kahuna Pops, which are handmade, are now sold in more than 50 outlets across Ireland, including seven Avoca stores. The business is in the process of building a new production facility in Walkinstown, Dublin 12, and, in the meantime, is managing exceptional heatwave<\/a>-related sales. <\/p>\n

\"KahunaKahuna Pops. Photograph: Ian Downes <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all hands at the pump at the minute to keep up with the demand,\u201d Downes says of the current hot spell. \u201cI\u2019m working from 7am in the morning until 11pm at night producing the ice pops and then two days a week distributing them. It\u2019s a seven-day work week.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week has been his busiest period since Kahuna Pops began. \u201cThis week was double our busiest week last year. We\u2019re purchasing as much ingredients as we can and turning them into pops as quick as we can, and then it starts all over again,\u201d says Downes. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do a full delivery on Friday and by Monday people are ringing me saying that the freezers in their shops are empty. This week has been the hardest work I\u2019ve ever put in but it\u2019s very rewarding.\u201d <\/p>\n

Downes says Kahuna Pops, which sell for \u20ac4 each, use ingredients mostly sourced from local producers. He describes the business as a \u201cfamily company\u201d, with the next generation closely involved. \u201cMy son Leon, he\u2019s 14, and he designs all the packaging. He helps pick the flavours too. It really is a partnership.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"KahunaKahuna Pops. Photograph: Ian Downes <\/p>\n

The most popular Kahuna Pops are the Fruit Blaster and mint chocolate flavours. \u201cIt could be raining outside and people still want these ice creams,\u201d says Downes, who does not seem to be melting under the pressure of greater demand. \u201cWe\u2019re putting it up against the big boys and we\u2019re doing great,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Ian Downes, a native of Tallaght in Dublin, the dream started in lockdown. While on the beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,615,7598,13355,61,60,13356],"class_list":["post-554403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dublin","tag-extreme-weather","tag-food-production","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tallaght"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}