Marie-Ève Laprise and Antony Damour, a young couple in their thirties, were looking for a business project in the frozen foods sector. Their challenge was to be able to offer refreshing snacks that would be accessible to everyone at a time of growing food allergies and intolerances as well as vegetarian and vegan diets. To develop their market, they wanted to stand out from the other existing offerings. So, they decided to improve on the time-honoured Popsicle by creating their own ice cream bars! They undertook a series of taste, texture and colour tests with fruit-based products. Whenever possible, they favoured local products such as maple syrup and berries grown in Quebec. Today, the Fabrique Purpop offers a variety of refreshing, natural and colourful snacks with surprising flavours.

The business was an immediate hit and developed rapidly. After two years of operations, the ice cream bars are distributed at a hundred points of sale across Quebec, and the business continues to grow.

Since the couple had already used the services of the CAE Memphrémagog and they were both under 39 years old, they knew that they were eligible for the Youth Strategy program. The two personal loans they invested in their business have enabled them to continue expanding, including with new equipment, especially to speed up the packaging process. As Laprise points out, “In addition to the financing, we had access to the expertise of the CAE Memphrémagog’s advisors with the food industry and their wonderful network of contacts, which allows us to make much faster progress without jeopardizing what we’ve achieved up to now.”