Wapos combines paletas, pizza, and pals
Josue Adin, the 25-year-old co-founder of Wapos, has paletas in his blood. Although he was born and raised in Mississippi, he spent a month each year in Mexico, visiting his family and working at his uncle’s paleteria. As a teenager, he fell in love with the Mexican ice pops and started working towards his dream of making and selling his own paletas.
He has two business partners: Maryam Zaidi, who’s also his girlfriend, and Christian Muñoz, who’s been a close friend since childhood. When Josue decided to open Wapos, Christian knew he wanted to be right there beside him, and he soon realized how much he enjoyed the creativity of cooking. Maryam’s skills as a graphic designer have been key to the business’s marketing; she’s created a food truck wrap, stickers, banners, and social media content.
The name Wapos is inspired by the men’s nickname growing up: guapos, which means “handsome guys.” Not the worst nickname to have.
When it came to developing recipes, Josue drew inspiration from his family’s recipes. Since he didn’t have the industrial-sized equipment he was accustomed to at his uncle’s shop, he had to reengineer the process for smaller batches while experimenting with different ingredients to produce creative flavors.
Wapos officially launched in Overton Park in 2024, with a wagon cooler full of handmade paletas. In the same year, they partnered with Josue’s cousin to open a food truck called Sexy Tacos. When Josue’s cousin decided to close Sexy Tacos in 2025, the Wapos team set up shop at OtherFoods Kitchen.
Artisanal pizza became their next obsession once they were in a commercial kitchen. They sold their mouthwatering pies through DoorDash and thoroughly enjoyed the recipe-development process. However, they missed the face-to-face connections from their roots in Overton Park. The Memphis Farmers Market was a natural transition for them to reconnect with their customers; at the market, they sell their paletas and aguas frescas, while they make pizzas for catering orders and special events.
Nostalgic flavors and customer requests are the fuel behind most of their current creations. Christian’s favorite paleta is the Mazapán, a combination of sweet bananas and De la Rosa mazapán, a popular Mexican peanut butter candy made with two main ingredients—peanuts and sugar. The texture is satisfyingly dense and crumbly, and easily blends into their smooth custard base.
Wapos takes great pride in its quality of ingredients. “We try to create the standard, not follow it,” says Christian. Their main objective is to offer Memphis an experience they’ve never had before. They source imported tomatoes and flour from Italy for their pizzas. Their mango lassi paleta requires a visit to the Indian grocery store in Cordova. Each recipe starts at the source of whatever inspired them.
Wapos has many long-term goals. They want to see their product in stores, open their own food truck, support businesses starting out, cater more events, and collaborate with fellow businesses. “Usually when people think of us, they compliment our creativity and our ability to collaborate and work with what we have,” says Christian.
Their farmers-market neighbors—with products like local honey and freshly pressed juices—are already inspiring specials. In partnership with Chakka Aur Chaat food truck, they’ve developed a Dubai chocolate strawberry cream paleta. And with Bay’s Wings and Things, they’ve created a refreshing lychee and strawberry paleta.
Josue has advice for people just starting a business of their own: “Be able to take criticism for your product. We grow a lot from taking people’s advice.”
Choosing from their variety of delicious paletas was nearly impossible, but I settled on something juicy and refreshing to fight back the Memphis humidity. The spicy watermelon was a no-brainer. Sweet watermelon juice forms the base, with real pieces of fruit studded throughout and ribbons of Tajín and chamoy. It’s a hydrating mix of salty-sweet goodness.
You can find Wapos every Saturday at the Memphis Farmers Market through October.
Gracie Driver is a University of Memphis senior, graduate of Southwest Tennessee Community College, Memphis Flyer intern, and substitute teacher for Bartlett City Schools. She has worked for La Baguette, Hustle & Dough, Amelia Gene’s, and Artesanal de Tela. She now focuses her knowledge and passion for food with freelance writing and baking services. @gracie.d.bakes
Meredith Avery is a Memphis-based photographer who captures moments across worlds (events, families, food, branding). Her work lives in real time, unpolished in the best way, and full of laughter and movement. Warm, social, and in the middle of things is where you’ll find her chasing the light. @meredithaveryphotography