Hi, I'm new to the board. I grew up on Oahu and am living in Spokane, WA now. We just came back from a visit and started thinking about bringing Hawaiian Style shave ice here to Spokane. As I'm researching the machines and products I discovered that we have no one here that makes block ice. My question is, how realistic is it to make your own block ice for an event without consuming most of your time? Is it worth it? I don't really want to go with the cube shaver. And how much blocks would I need for let's say a 4-hour event?
Thanks!
Lisa

It's not the hours -- it's the number of people served per hour or per day.
If it's a yearly event, coordinators should have data from the previous years available to vendors - or, ask previous vendors.
I use a 12 volt cube shaver. The mechanism is a lot easier to repair and replace parts on at home than an ice shaver so you need to take that into account. You may have to learn how to service your ice shaver yourself to avoid more expense. Of course, it's nice to have the wonderful texture. I have zero problem selling snow cones made from bagged ice cubes (available at my local stores) on a hot day, however!