Kona Ice

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uom2001

Wed Mar 23, 2016 12:24 pm

They seem to have a monopoly on little league organizations in my area (Tampa). Anyone else have to deal / compete with them? They give 25% of sales to the league. I'd have no issue with that, problem is they have the model and connections down, or so it seems. I just didn't see where putting in over $100k for a penguin truck was necessary. Dude has a good racket getting people to invest that kind of money.

Edit: I just saw the earlier thread down on this page regarding Kona. Still seems like a lot of $ upfront + royalties.
gingerjay

Wed Mar 23, 2016 3:22 pm

Who in their right mind would pay $100k and not have any say over their menu and operation?? And owe royalties on top?

Kona has a grip on events in my city too. I don't know what shaver they are using (Snowie?) but their snow cones are full of hard ice chips. But I guess the kiddos do not care...
capitalist
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:05 pm

Wed Mar 23, 2016 3:44 pm

Same here. I think it is because they got the donation thing going which is why they got the connections with the schools and sports teams.

They are using a Snowie shaver. Kids tend to not care for the quality, they do enjoy the music blazing from the trucks and the penguin though.
mattream
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:53 am
Location: Parker, CO
Contact:

Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:25 pm

Oh great, now you've done it!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Matt
MaunaSnoa Shave Ice
http://www.facebook.com/MaunaSnoa
uom2001

Thu Mar 24, 2016 7:15 am

Lol, is this a often talked about debate? Well I don't mean to seem jaded. If I had over $100k to invest, I'd take a safer ROI route. Kona has the baseball leagues covered, he'll they even have a permanent sign with the franchisee's name at the concessions area. I'm looking at the soccer leagues.
shavedicetrucks

Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:59 pm

I"m a Kona franchisee and very happy with my investment. Gingergay, we actually have complete control over our menu, (we can buy flavors from anywhere we want, but Kona is now manufacturing in house, so it's a lot cheaper than the other two places I bought and the flavors I've tried so far and great). I choose to sell ice cream (only 5 or 6 items, but we can buy that anywhere we want too). Of course we have to buy our branded cups from Kona, but they get them made in such high volume that our prices are about the same as buying from Sam's, and they look great. The Snowie shavers are super fast and it seams like the blades that I've been buying since last summer are shaving much finer than before. We can elect to have their block shaver if we want, but I haven't tried it yet.
So, after doing my own thing for many years, I"m very happy to be a part of Kona. The marketing alone that they do for us is worth the little $3K/yr. per truck. It amounts to about 3% royalty for each of my trucks, so I'm happy with that. Any other franchise biz is going to be anywhere from 6-12% from what I've researched over the years.
Of course some folks aren't interested in the franchise concept, but it works really well for me and most others that I've talked with.
And Capitalist has a good point about the giveback model. We elect to do whatever %age we want, and it depends on the type of event for me, but anywhere from 20-30% is what I typically do. I average about $12K/yr in givebacks, so it is a great way to stay in touch with the community and be a part of what's important.
It's definitely the best business decision I've made, but it was easy for me to see because of my background with restaurants, ice cream/shaved ice trucks, and building over 140 food trucks. Not for everyone, and I know privateers who do very well also. Just a personal choice, but I can't wait to get my next 3 trucks down the road.
gingerjay

Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:15 pm

Hey shavedicetrucks! Thanks for setting me straight on some of the Kona details. Sounds like you are doing really well for yourself.

I prefer the permanent store approach but for a minute thought about going the mobile route. Too much red tape in my city to even go down that road.
uom2001

Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:55 pm

Fu<k a Kona and their monopoly. Time to break it up! Their product is weak (low quality shave) and overpriced. Nothing personal to the owners but the fatass CEO looks like a molester.
ShaveIce
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:53 am
Location: Honolulu,HI
Contact:

Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:02 pm

Uom, we appreciate your opinion but please refrain from such language on our forums.

If you feel strongly against Kona Ice and their management, you could explain to the rest of us your reason behind it in a post and try not to resort to name calling.

Thanks
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Betablues2
Posts: 58
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:01 am

Sat Apr 02, 2016 6:14 am

Can't vault Kona for have a very good marketing strategy. There's many good things you can learn from Kona to secede and apply to your own business. Kona has already done a lot of the leg work that you don't have to. Just research Kona from a business point of view and don't become emotionally involved. Use it as motivation. Heck I don't like Walmart on principle, but you can't beat there Cane Sugar prices from a business perspective.

Cheers. B. Blue
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