Stephen Montoya
Hustlers come in many shapes and forms and local Frios Gourmet Pops franchise co-owner Leesa Wolf is no exception. Since 2019, she and her husband Eric, an Army Vet and West Point graduate, have been satiating ice cream lovers’ cravings for cold treats in the midst of the summer heat and beyond. This duo, along with several seasonal staff members, rove around the DFW area peddling gourmet popsicles that include flavors like Pineapple Mango, Pickle, Birthday Cake, and Caramel Cheesecake to name a few.
Currently, the local Frios franchise operates three popsicle trucks out of its Azle hub, with routes that cover River Oaks, Saginaw, Lakeside, Westworth Village, Springtown, Haslet, Paradise, Weatherford, Lake Worth, Decatur, and Bridgeport. Oh yeah, and Azle of course. Frios also has a freezer cart that peruses Burk Burnett Park from time to time.
Frios is available for birthday parties, neighborhood events, corporate functions, school fundraisers, and staff appreciations, plus more. Currently, and this is always changing, Leesa explains, Frios carries anywhere from 12 to 16 different flavors on each truck, which stay fully stocked and have yet to sell completely out.
"There's something for everybody,” Leesa says. “We have dairy free, vegan, and then no sugar added options too.”
Frios also has a line of pet-friendly flavors sure to please any pooch in the heat.
“We're not sugar free because we don't want to put a lot of chemically flavored stuff into our popsicles,” she says. “We try to keep it as natural as possible. And there are some pops lower in sugar for that reason.”
Frios Gourmet Pops
Leesa says she knows that at any gathering there are going to be people with food allergies, this is why Frios offers so many options.
“Our fruit pops … I mean, they're all real fruit and that's it,” she says. “We order fruit by the pallets and just puree it up and keep it as pure as we can. Our pink lemonade is pink because we use strawberry juice, it's not dye.”
Outside of Frios offering gluten free, dye free, and creamy popsicle options, they also have a line of pops that include nut free, wheat free, soy free, and dairy free treats as well. Frios menu is split into two sections, which include Steady Eddies (flavors available year-round) and Rotating Rhondas (limited seasonal flavors).
“Birthday cake is what started me,” Leesa says. “I took one bite of that and I was like, ‘so where do I sign the paperwork as a franchise owner?’”
If you’re interested in ordering Frios for a party or event just reserve your time, pay for the number of pops you need, and Frios does the service. You can even get a cooler of pops delivered to your desired locale.
However, if you looking to get your Frios on, the truck’s spots are constantly changing.
“This is part of the excitement about being a pop-up,” Leesa says. “You just never know where we’re going to be from one day to the next. You have to pay attention.”
Formerly a full-time nurse, Leesa says she became aware of the Frios Gourmet Pops franchise after a chance visit to Aledo.
“I was like, wow, this is awesome,” she opined. “And I love the idea that it's mostly a business where you have the freedom to go and supply these pops almost anywhere.”
This even means the set of “Yellowstone,” where Leesa and her staff where invited, along with several other food trucks, to feed the cast and crew during the filming of season 5 part one.
Stephen Montoya
“They did some filming here in Fort Worth, and then they did some out in Weatherford at Taylor Sheridan’s [Bosque] ranch,” she says. “It was the episode where Lainey Wilson is at the fair. We supplied everyone with our pops at both shoots, and our truck was actually featured in the background.”
Leesa verifies that both Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan were really nice, even setting up their tent behind the Frios truck during the production.
But this wouldn’t be the last time Leesa and Frios would be invited to a Sheridan-led event. She says she was also at the wrap party for Sheridan’s co-produced show “Landman” which was shot in and around Fort Worth for the last four months.
“We just met Billy Bob Thornton,” she says excitedly. “He’s a really cool down to earth guy. He got some ice creams for his wife to-go. And then our pizza friend Gepetto's Pizza, he was there too. Chapo’s made him a vegan pizza, and so it was really fun. They're just really nice people.”
As for Thornton’s flavor of choice, Leesa says Pineapple Mango was his and the crew’s favorite.
“Making people happy is really what we do,” Leesa says. “And getting people excited when we drive through just charges us up for every job. We all have challenges, but when we see those people smile, we're just like, ‘yes.’”
