The Alford children—Bailey (17), Zoe (15), and Max (12)—are all “happiness hustlers” who run many of the Frios Pops events by setting up, serving the pops, and cleaning up afterwards. Their parents, Chris and Liz Alford, started the Frios Gourmet Pops business in Omaha in 2024. Max also helps create much of the social media content, and all three of them assist running the business—inventory, loading orders, deliveries, and the all-important taste tests. They also earn commissions on any new events or wholesale accounts they bring in, making this a true family business.
Edge: Tell me about a day in the life of the Alford family.
Bailey: When we don’t have events, it’s pretty relaxed, except when we do a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. Max makes our videos, and Zoe and I do a lot of inventory and unload our deliveries. Our day-to-day is mostly maintenance of the business, maybe doing some pop drops. It’s a whole family effort.
Max: It’s like you have a couple hours of your regular summer, and then you set up and get the truck ready for an event. Sometimes we work an event for a couple of hours or maybe even a whole day.
Zoe: It’s a lot of prepping. For example, this morning, there was an 18-wheeler in our driveway and we had 127 boxes of pops delivered! You have to get it out quickly, otherwise the pops will melt. So you’re running and very busy. It’s kind of stressful but rewarding.
Edge: Is this solely a family business?
Zoe: So far, it’s just been family. It’s really fun even though sometimes we fight. But it’s good to be able to spend quality time doing stuff with your family and working hard while having new experiences and learning how to interact with customers and your family at the same time.
Edge: Max, how do you create the social content for the Frios Pops truck?
Max: I use CapCut to edit my videos. My dad searches for the cool ideas and then we basically just recreate it, but add a Frios twist.
Edge: Do any of you have ideas for careers you’re inspired to try after working the Frios business?
Max: I’ve always wanted to own my own restaurant for breakfast and lunches because I really like to make food. And I’ve always loved making myself delicious breakfasts every morning.
Edge: Are there parts of the business you like doing more than others?
Bailey: I think my favorite part is when the little kids try our pops. They get super happy and excited because—you know—kids and sugar. But it’s really cool to see how excited and messy they get because of the melting ice cream.
Zoe: I don’t love the prepping, but once you get to see the impact that you’re making on the customers—I love that. We went to a retirement home, and it made their day.
Max: It’s pretty cool to get set up the truck at events before everybody else arrives.
Edge: When you do big events like the College World Series, do you take breaks and explore other food trucks?
Zoe: We’ll often trade with other food trucks, if they do trade, so it’s cheap for both of us, or we’ll just go explore all the vendors.
Bailey: You end up seeing the same people at different events. We’ve gotten to try a lot of different cuisines and we’ve made some pretty good friends along the way.
To have Frios bring happiness on a stick to your next event, visit FriosOmaha.com or email the Alfords at Omaha@FriosPops.com.
