A quick thank you for this board. I am new to the shaved ice biz and found many great tips here:) I have been looking at the Snowie Flavor Station but, this season and most likely next season the is not doable financially. I was curious if any of you have made the attempt to make your own? I have been discussing doing just this with my hubby and have had a few ideas but, I was curious as to if any of you have tried?

Thanks In Advance,
Jen

Hi Jen! Even though I'm new to this industry and this forum I'd like to welcome you. I've found an extreme amount of info here. As to your flavor station question, I would say to pass it up and move on to the next idea. I've thought about that and the convenience of self serving customers, but I found a post on here about comparing machines. One poster said that he has owned Snowie stuff and it was't high quality. Another couple of good points brought up is that 1) Children are going to be using the flavor sation and go wild on it, meaning they are going to drain your syrup creating more expense for you as well as labor. 2) The over saturated Ices are not going to taste good and they will not be satisfied customers who bring you repeat business.

This is just from what I've read in the postings, but it makes perfect sense to me. I've took the time to read every post on this forum in my research and I check in every day or two to read any new posts. You should probably do the same thing if you're new in the business and have the time. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience on here.
Good luck.

Thanks Much For The welcome! Yea, I did some looking around after the post I made and seen those points brought up and was discussing with my hubby. I was thinking maybe it was not a good idea after doing the additional reading. But, originally the reasoning I was wanting a DIY was the Snowie did not look like good quality.
We purchased a little shack that has been in its location for many years and it is in the middle of a grocery parking lot. I really was trying to think of something more to keep drawing those kiddos back as they LOVE the shaved ice:) I have been doing some researching on some non liable type kids games or something that I could maybe offer for free with the economy the way it is. Just been brainstorming, lol. But, have yet to really think of something that will be what I would think would do the trick.
Thanks again, I am loving all of the input and the knowledge I have learned from here this far:)

Jen, I saw a trailer set up as a DJ booth on craigslist for sale. It had what looked like a giant CD on the side of it that you could spin around by hand. Now that gives me the idea that what you could do is make a wheel like that to put on the shack and post things on it like wheel of fortune. Wherever the needle lands is the prize you get ie.. Buy one get one free or half price, buy one get one free on your next visit etc. Each kid say 8 or under gets a spin or one spin per family that comes to the shack. I believe in aggressive marketing like playing some Hawaiian music through a loud speaker, have your kids out there eating a shave ice and having a good time, It'll draw other kids over. Idk, it's just a thought. With some bright colored paint and a little plywood, I think it would be a great marketing tool. For a thirty dollar investment what could it hurt? Plus it has the game concept and you know kids love games and winning stuff. Another idea I've been working on is doing private birthday parties, corporate events, etc. We have a lot of factories around here and they all have a field day where all the employees and there families come to a local park and have a big event. They give away door prizes and stuff. I think it would be worth while to get in touch with the places that do things like that and contract your shave ice to be served there. You can charge the families, or set up an hourly contract rate with the company for unlimited ices, just however you want to arrange it. The factories around here have several hundred employees plus generally an additional 2 to 3 people in the family. That makes for around 1000 people out in the sun doing potato sack races and all sorts of things to keep the active and hot. A shave Ice would be just the thing to cool them down. Food for thought.

Wow! Thanks Much for that wheel idea, that could be something:) Well I had my best day yet yesterday with sales (doubled what we normally do) and also met a woman that was just the woman I needed to meet. She is involved in all the school sports leagues as well as a charity for our town. I found out that this year the annual "skirt" game function is being held in our parking lot:) It is a function that the whole town attends:) It is in August so I am really wanting to get prepared, we plan to donate a portion of proceeds. We are going to be getting together to set up some fundraisers for the sports teams which I am excited about too.

I had thought about the Hawaiian music, think that is a must. The shack logo is a Tiki with a surf board and would love to find some LARGE tiki's. I was thinking people would love to do pics with them:)

You have been doing quite well at landing the events, kudos to you! Love all the ideas you have been throwing my way. If you think of anymore, please share:)

Wheel of Fortune, very interesting. A little creative marketing is all it takes sometime. If you ever go ahead with it, please take a picture and show us. I bet it would look and work awesome!

I know there are a lot of people who don't like the flavor station here. But I will give you first hand information.

#1 Will kids go crazy and use up to much flavoring? For the most part NO. You will get a kid every so often go crazy but most kids put less syrup on than you would yourself.

#2 If you at a huge event like a 4th of July Show where you have 3-4 hours to serve 1000's of people you will do 2-3 times more business with the flavor station period.

#3 Now if you are setting up at a location on a permanent basis then I high suggest you don't use a flavor station. You would want to have a good selection of flavors as you won't have the on going rush like at a huge event.

What I do if I have a permanent location is I carry 48 or more flavors that I pour myself. When I'm running event in my other setups I use the Flavor station. The fact is people at events/festivals love the flavor station. people will walk right by 3 other vendors to get to me because of it.

It also save you money as you can run a busy event with 1 person or two is it real big and not have to HIRE the extra help.

My two cents..

Health Department never has issues with these? What do they want if you set them up? I know it will vary from HD to HD but they are all typically on the same page.