Your Shaved Ice Machine Freezes Up…What Do You Do?

It’s 95 degrees outside, you are at an event and there is a nice, healthy line of people waiting to give you $3.00 each for a 16 ounce cup of shaved ice. You are working as hard and as fast as possible. Business is great and you have been pumping out cups of shaved ice non-stop for the last 30 minutes. You turn the machine off to refill the hopper or place another ice block inside of the machine. You flip the switch on and nothing happens. You hear a humming sound coming from the motor. What do you do? Do you keep switching the machine off and on? NO! STOP! Turn the machine off immediately!

What has happened is a typical machine clog. It is going to happen…it’s a “nature of the beast.” While you have been shaving ice all that time, ice has been building up inside the machine. The ice has almost completely frozen the metal and finally it all came to a breaking point. When the machine stopped for that split second, all that fine fluffy ice inside the machine caused the moving parts to freeze together. This is known as a machine freeze up. It happens to all the shaved ice and snow cone machines; both cube ice and block machines.

To solve this problem, first make sure the machine is turned off as soon as possible. You don’t want you motor to sit and hum for long periods of time because by doing so you may easily burn up the motor. Now find a 12 or 16 ounce cup of water and slowly drizzle the water inside the hopper to break up and release the ice. It may take a cup or two of water to loosen up the ice. After one cup, try switching the machine on to see if it is still clogged. If so, repeat the process.

A counter mounted spray nozzle also works great in this situation. Simply spray a few squirts into the ice hopper and you are back in business in no time.

Learn more tips and tricks for efficiently operating your shaved ice or snow cone business by requesting a FREE copy of Cold Cash, the free business manual offered at 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com.

A Video Demo of Our Best Selling Commercial Shaved Ice Machine

If you are looking for a great commercial shaved ice machine, I encourage you to view the video we put together featuring our best selling shaved ice machine, the Hatsuyuki HC-8E.

After watching the video, please feel free to call us, email us or contact us here in the blog with any questions that may arise. At 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com, we are serious about quality products and quality customer service.

If you are ready to order your new Hatsuyuki machine, I encourage you to do so soon while it is on sale! You can save over $600 off the regular price if you order soon!

Snow Cones for the "Refined Palate"?

I came across an article recently featuring a snow cone stand with a twist. You won't fine the usual blue raspberry or strawberry snow cones coming through the customer service window at this stand. Instead, you will see exotic concoctions such as watermelon-basil or green tea-pear. It sounds interesting. And, as a result, it spurred me to ask my readers this question: do you feature exotic flavors at your stand? If so...please share your flavors with us and let us know what the response is from your customers. I think it would be interesting to find out...

Thanks!

Deluxe Hawaiian Smoothie Package

Smoothies are an excellent and refreshing treat on a hot summer day. Actually, they're good pretty much any time of the year!

HawaiianShavedIce.com has created an excellent home use smoothie package that is sure to be a hit with your family and friends. Each Deluxe Hawaiian Smoothie Package comes with the following:

1 High Quality Hawaiian Smoothie Maker.

2 Packs of Pina Colada Smoothie Mix

2 Packs of Tropical Mango Smoothie Mix

2 Packs of Peach Berry Smoothie Mix

50 Tropical Spoonstraws

Order now during our "Summer Stimulus Sale" and save almost $40! Better yet, use the additional savings to order additional smoothie mixes. Order individual flavors or our variety pack. Make sure you have enough smoothie mix available to serve your friends and family all summer long!

How Much Syrup Should Be Used on Shaved Ice Cups?

One of the most common mistakes shaved ice business owners make is using too much syrup. This not only reduces your profit margin, but it often makes the shaved ice too sweet. At 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com, we tell owners that you want customers to eat the shaved ice with a spoon, not drink it with a straw. The more syrup you apply does not mean your shaved ice will taste better. Unflavored ice or white spots in your shaved ice cup is okay. Yes, white spots without flavor showing on them is OKAY. If you give the ice around 15 to 30 seconds, the syrup will soak into the ice throughout the cup. The chart below will give you a good guideline for the proper amount of syrup to use for each size cup.



Make sure you use the best quality, best tasting syrups in the business too...OURS! Learn more about our award winning syrups by visiting our website at 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com. Your customers will notice the difference and will come back for more time and time again. Our flavors are unsurpassed in the industry!

How to Use the Funnel Technique for Cups of Shaved Ice

If you are having difficulty creating nice, rounded cups of shaved ice for your customers, we recommend that you try using the funnel technique.

The funnel technique is one of the easiest techniques to learn and use because it produces a uniform dome time after time. The only drawback is that if you pack the shaved ice too much with the funnel, the shaved ice will harden and may become too crunchy. The key with this technique is always use a gentle, yet firm approach with the funnel.

Collect shaved ice on top of the cup forming a large over sized dome of ice (1) in diagram. Take the appropriate sized round funnel and gently place it on the ice (2). Gently pack the ice with the funnel and then spin the funnel back and forth to release (3). Carefully lift the funnel off the ice and apply the customer's syrup (4).

1-800-Shaved-Ice.com currently stocks two funnels; an 8 oz. funnel and a 16 oz. funnel.

Shaved Ice Caboose is ON SALE!

In the past, we have featured the unique shaved ice caboose concessions trailer. It's full of great features and has plenty of room for virtually any concessionaire.

This fantastic, eye-catching trailer is now on sale during the summer for only $55,000! That is a savings of $34,000...which is enough to outfit your trailer with all brand new equipment, inventory, and supplies. This is an incredible deal for a truly great trailer! This is a great long term investment for your concessions business. Act now because this deal will not last forever.

For more information about the trailer, please visit 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com.