April 3, 2017

Meet Sid Gupta of Lolli and Pops in Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sid Gupta.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sid. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It started nine years ago. My family bought a small group of candy stores called Candyopolis throughout the Midwest. With better operations, product and an amazing team, we found a lot of success and it encouraged us to think bigger. What if we could build the best sweet shop in the world from the ground up?

Thus Lolli and Pops was born. When we started L&P, the industry had characterized candy as cheap treat for kids. We knew that sweets were much more than that. If we could source one of a kind treats, package them thoughtfully and deliver them with incredible service in stores that offered delightful experiences, then we could elevate the category and become the destination for thoughtful, delicious gifts.

We started with the product, sourcing top of the line confections from all over the world – Japan, England, The Netherlands, Madagascar. Meticulously curating our selection down to pineapple and mango gummy bears. Our efforts were guided by a simple goal: to create delight by sharing sweetness.

Over the last few years we’ve brought sweetness coast to coast with 38 stores in 16 states and delighted over 3 million guests annually. We’ve also just launched a new e-commerce experience (lolliandpops.com) that is the fastest way to send a gift online.

We’re looking forward to unwrapping our flagship in downtown San Francisco later this year. It’s an exciting time to be in the business of sweetness.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We’ve been very lucky to have a business that delighted people from day 1. There is a healthy tension that exists between our desire to delight more and more people by growing and a responsibility to not only match, but constantly improve upon that delightful experience we’ve been providing from the start. And we work on that daily. The great news is the experience at Lolli and Pops gets even better every single day, which is energizing!

Please tell us about Lolli and Pops.
We are purveyors of sweetness. That means we’re constantly searching for and purveying the highest quality candies and confections in the world. We package them thoughtfully and deliver them with delightful service in a welcoming environment. We believe sweets are always a gift, even if they’re just for yourself. We are most proud of the culture of generosity we are building, both inside and outside of our company.

One of the interesting things we do is ask our team to write a thank you note each month to whomever they please. We want to reinforce that thoughtfulness, because its core to who we are. We believe sweets to be the most potent way to say “thank you,” “I love you,” “you’re the best,” or even simply, “hello.”

How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc.?
We measure success at Lolli and Pops, not by store growth or in dollars (though they matter too), but by something we call our happiness count – how many people did we delight today? Our vision for the world is one of greater generosity. If we could create a global movement of sweetness, then we’d be very happy.

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