It was when my oldest was sick that a mix of a lot of love and a little bit of worry brought the idea for Lolleez came to mind.
The Idea
As many of you know, I have four kids. It was about four years ago that my oldest daughter was sick with what we came to find out was strep and pneumonia. She was absolutely miserable, and she kept complaining of a sore throat (we all know those are the worst). I can still picture the view in my rearview mirror on the way to the pediatrician. She was laying down in the back seat, face scrunched from the pain.
I wanted nothing more than to be able to ease her pain, but cough drops made me so nervous. Especially because we were in a car, all I could think about was the potential choking hazard. I was at a lost for things to do. As moms, all we want to do is help our kids, and it’s the worst feeling in the world when we feel powerless to do so.
In that moment, I thought, “wouldn’t it be great if I had a throat lozenge in the form of a lollipop?” And that’s how the idea for Lolleez Organic Throat Soothing Pops came to mind! It’s been a long road since then, but that’s the original idea!
Read below for how the idea became a reality!
From Idea to Reality
Decisions in the Beginning
I think – actually, I know - my experience as a mom informed many of
my decisions in the beginning of the process of transforming Lolleez Organic Throat Soothing Pops from idea to reality. Here were the two main decision points for me:
- One thing I get questions on a lot is why we decided to make our pops USDA Certified Organic. Great question! No, I don’t feed my family entirely organic diets. But I do think it’s super important, especially on a sick day, to know that we’re giving our kids the best. Plus, when you’re dragging sick and tired kids through the store, you want to be able to look at the back of a package and be able to pronounce the ingredients without pulling out your phone and Googling them. It’s that simple. In terms of Certified Organic vs. just “natural”, there are actually HUGE differences in the requirements, which I didn’t know until being a founder. The more I learned, the prouder I felt to have the USDA Certified Organic symbol so that moms know they can trust our products.
- The other decision we had to make was price point. With four kids, I can’t afford to be paying top dollar every time they get sick. We wanted our price point to be something more attainable for moms. It was important to us that price never became a barrier to helping kids feel better. “Organic” tends to have the connotation of being expensive, so we worked really hard to limit that where we could.
Expanding the Family
Shortly after launching Lolleez Organic Throat Soothing Pops, we came up with the idea for Tumeez Organic Tummy Soothing Pops. The intention was the same – to provide moms and dads an “eezier” way to help their kids when they’re feeling a little under the weather. The existing solutions to upset tummies weren’t doing it for us – chalky tablets with drowsy side effects. So we created a lollipop to help kids who experience upset tummies.
Drum roll please…our NEWEST innovation, Immuniteez Organic Immune Support* Pops, came when my daughter (who hates taking her gummy vitamin in the morning) asked me why I couldn’t just make a vitamin lollipop. (Light bulb moment!) After COVID hit, we knew the best thing we could give parents was a way to support* their kids’ immune systems. So we worked really hard to bring that to market. We’re so excited to have recently launched Immuniteez Organic Immune Support* pops with vitamins C, D, E, zinc, selenium, and more!