Purchased Snowie 3000, would it be dishonest if?

[lannettejohnson]

Hello everyone my name is Lannette, Happy New year! I have been a nurse for over 20 years. I have just received the keys to my store that will be a shave ice business in which I plan to open May 2016, the weekend of memorial holiday. I purchased Snowie 3000 in Sept 2015, but I did not open it until I completed graduate school in Dec 2105 ( nurse practitioner curriculum, praise God!). I hate to say it, because I appreciate Aaron, Lyle and his dad's hard work, and all of their efforts so very much, and I really like Emily, she's so very nice to me, but the quality of the ice has me sort of uneasy and uncertain. I tried finding "the perfect round cubes" for the Snowie to mimic its brother "Snowie block shaver" as Aaron suggested in the youtube videos, but that has turned out to be such a big headache to find an ice company when most of them selling 20-40lb ice bags have nothing but nuggets pieces in them. I get so many ice chunks coming through, I am so nervous to have spent so much money....

So, I had no idea what to do, none. So then I came to the decision that I could just keep Snowie 3000 to do exclusively children under 12, and purchase two swan's or the hatsuyaki for the adult treats when there are long lines. Do you guys think it would be ok to do that, and still represent "hawaiian shave ice quality" and still be honest? One thing I said I would do is order all the best ingredients to make up for the ice quality. For flavors, Snowie has really great green apple, watermelon, strawberry, grape, root beer and pine colada that I will purchase exclusively from them. And for all my other flavors, I will purchase from HTK. For ice cream, that goes at the bottom or top, I plan to use Thrifty's ice cream. In addition, I plan to purchase my cookies for my ice cream cookie sandwiches from pacific cookies in Santa cruz, which i must purchase 84 cases (each case has 320 cookies)= 6000 bucks including freight.

I live in Los Angeles, California. I am not able to find any Hawaiian Shave Ice store fronts anywhere around me, so I thought with my detail to service and quality, and my understanding of people (from my nursing career), my focus on THEE best quality of everything I offer, the Lord would bless that for me and I would be successful, and I still think HE will because I am really trying to compensate to improve the product I give my customers. What do you guys think, I just need to here from the experts if I am making sense. And I just want to say again, that the Snowie people are wonderful service oriented people who seem to try to give all of their customers the best. Maybe in a couple of years or sooner, Aaron and Lyle with that genius mind and excellent work ethics will figure out how Snowie can produce the quality comparable to Swan. So in all likelihood I will just keep Snowie because I really like the people behind Snowie, and will just use it for kid cones. When my daughter and I used Snowie's green apple and the Snow cap, and again with HTK Li Hing Mui, the texture didnt bother us at all, it was really delicious. I think we became bothered when we were reading here on the forum from Swan block ice shaver owners that there was something better out there, other than Snowie for half the price. Then our pallets become more critical towards Snowie. Anyway, having Snowie and two Swans I should be covered...?

Here is my storefront below, but the store right now is just blank empty space with tons of potential. Blueprints are being worked on this friday that will be completed in 7 days, and next week on Jan 27, I have an appointment with the design company to convert my storefront into a "tiki hut" or "Hawaiian Shack" with the thatched roll and all. I am really trying to dream big for this project.

I am very open to any and all suggestions. Thanks everyone, Happy New Year and continued Blessing!

[TWH]

I would suggest that you give Aaron a call and tell him exactly what you said here and ask if he would be willing to accept it back for credit toward a block shaver or if that is not practical for you maybe just for store credit for flavors or products. If you have not yet purchased your 5 gallon head packs and drill attachment you may get credit toward those. I know they are having a summit in a few weeks so there may be someone willing to buy it at a discount that would make it a win win for everyone and in doing so you can have a clean conscience and know you are serving your customers as well as honoring God.

By the way I will be at that summit. Let me know if you plan on attending.

Tom

[lannettejohnson]

Thank you TWH for those great suggestions! I think I will call Aaron on Monday and see. They have some great flavors too! so the credit could really help me in this area. I purchased this long metal pole that goes into a drill, that is used to mix the sugar water in Snowie's 5 gallon jug for ease. That device is really very nice and quite convenient. The other nice mixing device is that expensive(1700.00) automatic mixer, I like it but just way too expensive for now as I plan to install a commercial kitchen into my store that is literally "a room and a bathroom" with very limited plumbing. Might purchase it later down the road if I feel I need it, the manual one with the drill is not bad and really does cut down a lot of the work

I met someone named Ramon in Wilmington, Ca who does events with Snowie 3000. He and his wife are going to the Snowie Summit in a few weeks, and I plan to drive right behind them in my jeep to hear everything, and pick up all the flavors and bottles I would need for this year. That would be nice to meet you and the other Shave Ice/Snow Cone entrepreneurs. I am also studying for a national exam in February, and working 5-14 hour shifts per week to come up with the money for this business...so not sure if I can make it. Thank you again TWH for your reply, it has been very helpful in opening my mind to other alternatives to resolve things in a nice and pleasant fashion

[TWH]

My pleasure. It would be great to meet there if you could make it. You will find a lot of great people on this site but activity is slow right now although I check it every couple of days. If you have many Filipinos near you you might also consider adding Halo Halo which you can make with your shaver to your menu as this is a big seller and you can earn a very loyal base. As a Pastor I lived there for a year and and have literally more demand for this than I can handle with my current operation. I could devote a dedicated truck just for this.

[Betablues2]

Congrats on the new venture. I my self am looking for a store front as we speak. I am a stationary mobile vendor if that makes sense. Also a long time nurse. LOL. Wanting to take a break from nursing and decided on selling shaved, shave ice. Was only open for 2 1/2 months and the response was crazy. My suggestion would be to hold on to the Snowie. If your product and service is good you will be asked to do events. You will get more bang for your buck with events than with a storefront. If sale at the storefront are good, events will be awesome. I will be purchasing a cube shaver for some of these events in the future. I have had events with 400 plus servings 30 people deep in 3hrs using a single Swan. That was brutal. At some of these events, I noticed people were not interested in high end quality because it was free. Provided by the host. A Snowie sure would have really come in handy. People hate standing in line on a hot day, even if it is free, and a good cube shaver would sure keep the lines moving. Congrats on the NP. Send me a pic of the outside of the building. Whose divided windows look cool. And a corner, WOW.

[lannettejohnson]

Wow Betablue2 I have just decided last night to Keep Snowie. But before that, 3 days ago, I placed Snowie on Ebay for 2400 convinced that I needed a block shaver. I went to a shave ice place in Torrance friday night that use the Swan that was wrapped in their trademark graphics. The ice was very smooth and consistent but the flavors were weak. Also, at the bottom of the treat, near the ice cream and melting ice, there were many crunchy rocks. I could not believe it. Then last night, my daughter, and granddaughter went to Carson California at a place that use Hatsuyuki shaver. The ice was again very smooth and consistent, with some crunchy rocks near the ice cream and melting ice. He makes his own flavors, and he was really very very nice as I shared with him that I too wanted to go into this business, and showed him my pics on my phone. He even stated that 3 or 4 other people from Los Angeles had come to him looking for help in this business in which he gave. He was such a doll telling me about expenses that I was not aware of. So his treat tasted better, but I was not sure if it was the flavors, or his genuine kindness and the experience of being in the presence of a giver, but it was gone fast too. His wife is also a nurse, and the owner of their shop.

The ice from the Swans and Hatsuyuki is gone very very fast. It looks like a lot when they pile it in the cup, but the treat is gone very fast because the ice is very thin and fluffy. I don't want my treats to be like that. I go to Costco's because I LOVE getting my money's worth, I just LOVE ALL THINGS LARGE lol, and I LOVE sugar. So I want to produce a treat that really is large, and that really takes AWHILE to eat so that you feel you got your money's worth..This is really really really very important to me. I want to be Costcos of Shave Ice, lol. That fluffy snow in a large cup that looks humongous, is a little deceptive when the treat disappears on you in minutes, my daughter and I had a hard time recounting the treat and the flavors lol, it was just too short lived, lol .

When I made our treats at home using Snowie and HTK flavors and snow cap, in those 12 ounce flower cups, it was so much to eat and delicious despite Snowie's crunchier ice, it was very very filling with ample left over. So I took SNowie off of Ebay last night, and when I have my tasting party of about 15 people the week of valentines in my store, I will let them decide. I will upload the results and photos/video. I am going to keep SNOWie for sure, and will just add on either the Swan and Hatsuyuki. But according to the nice angel man that I met last night, he said the Hatsuyuki is safer because it won't spin unless a door is closed allowing you to keep all of your fingers, lol, but the Swan will still spin, and finger parts can get caught up in the blade. I will have teenagers from a local program being mentored, working in my store so I probably better just cross the Swan off my list and go with Hatsuyuki, also, the person who repairs Hatsuyuki is local, located in the city of Irvine California. After hearing about the safety issues, I did not check to see where the repair people for Swan is located.

You want to see photos, sure. I have a video of the whole store, but I don't know how to upload it. Tako Tyko is the design company that I am using. I have a sit-down with them on Jan 27. They help with concept development, get permits, and will show you on the computer, the graphics of what you think you want, will look like before the work is done, so a decision can be made. So attached are my one dimensional cartoon drawings lol to help translate my idea. But I let them know, none of my ideas are set in stone. I am open to their expertise and whatever they want to show me. On that drawing, I had no idea of my business name. Since then, I have decided to go with "Hawaiian Ice Creations" and have already done my paperwork through legalzoom an LLC, Business License and Permit for $460.00 divided into three payments of $151.00. It should arrive in the mail between Feb 5-12.

I think I am going to do a video on how this experience is the everything a person will need to know so that future shave ice entrepreneurs in Los Angeles California can be aware of do's and don'ts

[lannettejohnson]

Thank you TWH for this very valuable information. I really really appreciate it. Thank you so much. My area demographics is most comprised of African American(me) and Hispanics. My menu will be to try and replicate flavors such as Jolly ranchers, Now Laters, Starburst, Life savers, Sour Patch kids candies, and Spicy Tamarind with mango, Spicy Tamarind to make raspados. It will be a heavy kid menu, and half for adults. I will advertise making Retro Snow Cones using snowie for kids cones, and Adult treats will be Hawaiian shave ice using Hatsuyuki shave ice machine. Then the patrons will decide from that point forward what they want. Like you articulately stated, doing it this way I can have a clear conscious, and do something just a little different...offer Retro Snow Cones and Hawaiian Shave Ice. Its certainly different from the norm but it will work, the Lord will make sure that it works because my intention (the He heavily favors and measures) is to be honest. Where do you live TWH?

[lannettejohnson]

BetaBlues2, I totally missed mentioning in my reply that you too are a nurse. Wow, I am so excited to hear that. I now know of 4 nurse including myself who are in this business. Very nice! It's certainly helps to have a service oriented attitude and quality with a deep desire to please people enter this profession. Very Nice! I initially thought to do events but I kept hearing how difficult LA health depart was towards all things Snowie. I live upstairs, when the landlord approached me (because I had already told her that I was looking for a store) to rent this spot. I grabbed it in a heart beat. She is charging me 1500.00 per month. She said I could make as many alterations as I needed, but i have to also pay for all of the plumbing. First payment in not due until March. I think I will go back to her and ask her to please give me until May, before a payment in due as a way to pay for the permanent plumbing and upgrade that I am doing to her property. After I leave, she now has an official commercial kitchen that she can rent to people who desire and need a commercial kitchen space. I think if I ask her to pay for the plumbing only, not the three sink compartment, hand washing sink, or countertop, that's all my expense that I am willing to absorb, about 8,000-10,000 dollars paid through free rent, I think that's reasonable. I will talk with my uncle who does real-estate to for an idea of how to approach this with her. She's really very very nice and is very excited for me, so I don't think she will put up a lot of fuse, and yield especially since I am not asking her to really pay anything, just to give me free rent for the cost of plumbing work only, and with the offer that if she ever decides to sell that property, I will get the first offer.

[lannettejohnson]

Originally I had planned on doing window service only. However, when the architect came into the store last week to start on the 3 sets of blue prints for dept of health and dept of building and safety, he recommended highly that I allow people into the store. After hearing his reasoning, I agreed. My main concern was for the area I am in, and having people's children behind the counter, and being robbed. I have now decided against window service only service, and now have resigned to installing bullet proof plexi glass with a locked door drawn into the floor plans. Please see my drawings of the store layout

[Betablues2]

Remember not to go overboard on initial start up cost. Keep it simple to start and then add as budget allows. Looks like you have a good sense of style direction you want to go with. Looks Cool. Highly recommend drive-up window. Some people just refuse to get out of their vehicle. Seems like they just don't have enough time to sit just for a moment. Don't forget to stay away from negative people. If you build it, They will come.