Shave Ice Community Web Board

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum and hoping to get into the shaved ice business. Just took a trip to Maui and was inspired by the quality and want to bring that to my local beach community in So-Cal.

I am just beginning my brainstorming / research process and if anyone has any tips or pieces of advice that would be appreciated!

I am looking at using a model similar to Bahama Buck's, but also considering a food truck model. Anyone have more success one way or the other?

Thanks in advance!

Good evening all. I thank you for reading this in advance lol. I am going crazy wanting to get into the shave ice business. But i have convinced myself not to buy a truck or trailer. I want to sell off of a bike with trailer or cargo trike. I have seen a lot of great advice on here and am looking forward to comments on my query. I can't find what I'm looking for on the interwebs so I'm going to try to build a cart. I am looking for someone who has done this before or advice on how I should set up my bike trailer or trike. My local health department says a sink is a must. Can anyone please guide me.

P.s. I tried to shorten this up but just got longer. My apologies

Snowie sells a bike version. I think I recall when they had their Summit that they can also put a motor on the bike.

TWH is right, Snowie does have a tricycle unit. You can use a commercial product as a model to build your own but if you can pony up for a ready made "stand" you'll be selling shaved ice much sooner. Also, no offence but it's unlikely that you'll build a unit that looks as professional, (clean, crisp, on purpose, etc) as a Snowie unit. What do you want to be doing, building a stand or running a stand? Pay attention to logistics. Pay lots of attention.

Shaved ice is a great little business. No expensive inventory, no expensive tooling, no skilled labor, all your customers leave your stand happy. Every day is pay day and you get paid in cash. What's not to like.

If you are planning to build your own, I would stick to a trailer, to keep the build simpler and keep costs down, as you can use any bicycle you have around, and easily build a trailer with a couple of wheels, an axle, and a hitch. Here's one I found on Pinterest that may give you some ideas. Looking at the hitch and the trailer size, it looks like it was towed by a motor vehicle. You'd have to reduce the size somewhat to be able to tow by bicycle. Take a look at the hand-pulled Snowie Satellite Cart for ideas on how to squeeze everything into a small space.https://snowie.com/product/snowie-satellite-cart/

TWH wrote:Snowie sells a bike version. I think I recall when they had their Summit that they can also put a motor on the bike.

Thanks TWH. I have taken a look but my only issue is that city health requires sink for hand washing

Hello BruceSannino. I appreciate your honesty and you are right. I would've had to start build last year.. I have seen some trikes and bikes but all in Europe. I do like there rear mount trike from snowie I guess I would have to figure out how to get a sink on it or maybe I can get away with portable hand washing station. Like you said...I don't want to wait I want to do. I wonder if I could put my own wrap on snowie trike...

Hello DerekinCanada I do like this set up and I am pretty handy but spring is here, if only on calendar. And I would love to be at the local parks this season.
Thank you all for your input. Look forward to more feedback and guidance. Love reading all subjects

The Snowie bike looks good, I tested it when I was there. It pedals easy
It is designed to have the shaved ice premade in cups, so all you have to do is pour the syrup on
If you have to pedal around a shaved ice machine and power it could be a lot of weight.
Add to that the ice required.

Here is the video for it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neMIs1OLQiQ

You're most welcome Frito. Go to YouTube and Pinderest and search triple sinks. You'll find plenty of handyman made triple and hand washing sinks. I'm the last person to disparage "handyman built". I'm confident that my own work is pretty handy and I've seen plenty of home built work that was just excellent. GO SHAVE SOME ICE AND SELL IT!

Re handwash sink:
Assuming the requirement is for hot running water into a sink, get yourself a propane powered portable water heater, like this $159.99 unit that runs off those small propane canisters (can also adapt to a 20 lb tank) https://www.amazon.com/Costway-Propane- ... 077YWNWXV/. You also need a fresh water container, and to connect a hose between it and the unit, and hook the unit to the 12 volt marine battery you would already have for powering the ice shaver, to allow it to pump the water. There is a swing out tap. Get a dollar store plastic tub to use for the sink and attach it to the side of your bike unit, under the water heater's tap. Drill a hole and attach a standard household sink drain to the bottom of the tub, and a hose or pipe to the end of the drain. Gravity drain the water into another plastic container or bucket.