This is a special edition of Hot Dog Cart News. Remember – you saw it here first!
E-Z Built Hot Dog / Shaved Ice Cart. This morning I released an article about converting my E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart Plans to a shaved ice cart. One of my customers, Rick Petersen did an awesome conversion which has generated a TON of interest from all of the readers here.
The biggest question I’m hearing is which shaved ice machine should you use? I wasn’t sure so I did some quick preliminary research just to see what is available in the different price ranges. Here are a few options…
Gold Medal Products Co. Shave-A-Doo Ice Shaver, Silver
Gold Medal Products Co. Hawaii’s Finest Ice Shaver, Silver
Gold Medal Products Co. Sno-Master Sno-Kone Ice Shaver, Blue
Gold Medal Products Co. Olde New Orleans Block Ice Shaver, Silver
All you slingers who are also shavers – I want to pick your brain on this. Let’s talk sno cones and shaved ice equipment in the comments!
-Steve
Grape. Oh…that wasn’t the question?
Already investigated new orleans ice shavers. You need a blocked ice maker and the above shaver both cost some $$$. Your payback will come in about two seasons.
Saw your post earlier this morning.. NICE to say the least… Nice option is that alot of these machines will run off a 12 volt battery, thus making the cart an optimal tool to get around to various events.
Very nice! I don’t know about these thinga a lot, so I would like to ask how do you store the Ice? Or how does it work?
I am looking at a sno-cone machine that is hand cranked..It has a hopper that hold’s about 4 lbs. of ice cubes…Which you can grind up in less than a minute…It cost just over $200.00 and it kindof looks like the top picture…
Definitely shaved ice, never a snow cone!! There is no comparison.
I have been looking at these for while. Lots of people in the park are asking for such items. I have 2 issues:
1 – Will the local Health Department let me do this. Does Shaved Ice count as a Non-hazardous food?
2 – How much power do these things use?
I am no electrician. I do not know things like power drain, etc. (And yet I was STILL able to build an EZ Build :-D). I am wondering how many batteries would need to be put into a cart, and how long those batteries would last. Would we need a generator on it?
How did you fine, fine people work this out?
Thanks!
What is the hand cranked sno cone machine, do you have a name?
Hey Steve,
You can find the syrup cheap on ebay..
I have a friend in the business that uses a New Orleans style block shaver (best texture) that runs off of 12v deep cell battery all day. The 12v is cheaper than a 110 but if that is what you have there is always an inverter that can be hooked up to the deep cell battery that would probably be good for 6-7 hrs, depending on the amount of business.
If they run off a 12 volt you can use and inverter coming off the power plug in the car, provided you can park close enough to the machine. I’ve been thinking about adding something like this to my menu, but before I do that, I’m considering a hamburger grill. Maybe next year.
Too many questions. not enough answers.
Steve, i know you will get around to it..
I use the Gold Medal machines, and have in 30 years of concessions never purchased a new one, you can get deals on them at resturant equipment shops and off Ebay or Craigs list normally a good used one runs no more than $200.00, and you can always sell it for that if you don’t abuse it. I have several and rent them out for $35.00 a week end to churches etc, it would be hard to damage one of them. I also limit my syrups to three or four flavors, grape, orange, cherry and blue raspberry sell great for us. I get $2.00 for a snow cone and use a 8 oz plastic cup with the spoon straw, cost us pennys to make and you have very little waste. Syrup will carry over from show to show, keep your cups and straws protected and they carry over, you may loose some ice if you don’t have storage.
I would love to know where to get one of the gold medal or d New Orleans block ice shavers for $200.00.
Thanks
Anyone have a source?
I have served snow cones for the past 2 years with great success off of my cart. I started out using a inverter and now i use a small generator. you can see my cart setup on facebook under Geno’s Pit Stop Dawg’s
Hi Gene
I am just getting started kinda of late in the season but what kind of inverter did you first used?
@Peter; The hand crank machine is made by the same people that Steve is showing…”Gold Metal Product’s”…I just hope you’all don’t buy them all before I get a chance to get one!..
if you want to know where to get one just ask…
I was just looking at a picture of a man in my hometown that had a snow-cone cart that you push…the picture was taken in 1936…his snow cone machine looked like an overgrown meat grinder that you turn by hand…He went on to open a resturant…That resturant is still open today….Run by his grandchildren…
I learned a lot about this product many years ago doing the NASCAR races. I use the Hawaii’s Ice Shaver because its faster, takes up less room, will take reg. bagged ice and is trouble free. Its also about the show. This machine is pretty loud and thats a good thing, people want to know whats going on. The snow cone machines that have the storage glass box are very messy and just to big. And you can make a lot of money with shaved ice if you use the right cup.
Check out the “Snowie” machine. They have a battery operated unit. The real highlight to their unit is the dome which forms the cone on top. Also their self serve flavor stand doubles your productivity. A good replica can be make for very little using water dispenser bottles from Wal-Mart. I have no axe to grind- just trying to be helpful.
Hi all, i have a 12 volt unit on my wagon and use a 12 volt deep cycle battery like the fisherman use on their trolling motors and have gone a couple of days before re-charging. your motor will only run about 10 seconds at a time if that much, the ice chute clears out pretty fast. i tend to keep the blades on it a little sharper than the one in the snack shop as it will cut with less effort. as far as keeping ice a little longer a got a cooler with a drain hole on the bottom then turned it over and started in a corner and about every 6 inches drilled holes in it all the way around and then sprayed Great Stuff expanding insulating foam into it. I connected 2 tubes that are included with the product together so it would reach to the bottom. any hardware store will have the foam then i flipped it over and on the top of the lid did the same thing. I live in Mexico just south of Laredo Texas and it works fine. as far as syrup goes i cant find anything here and the stuff in laredo is not real good so I order the concentrate from Gold Medal and make my own is easy, put a gallon of water in a pot heat it up add 5# of sugar and the concentrate and there it is, wait until it cools a little before putting it into your gallon jug my biggest sellers are cherry,watermelon and banana. you can also use the water and sugar mix without the flavoring as a base for lemonade shake-ups.
I really cheat,I only sell on the weekends and the inspector is never around, so what I do is I bought 2 of the verry large water coolers,and a 85 dollar ice shaver and I fill up both coolers in the morning with the shaved ice and away I go.The ice shaved lasts all day,or untill I run out.This year I am adding 2 more coolers for a total of 4, and I take my ice shaver with me and 40 pounds of extra ice and if need be I shave my ice right there on site,if I have ren out.It runs off my generater.I dont think I would do this at a festival or anthing like that but I have a permanet spot on weekends, all by myself,no competion to piss off.
I love this idea. We wanted to do snow cones last year, but it was so stinkin’ hot our brains melted before we got that far. We sold a boat load of those little icee pops from Sams though. I think a cappuccino cart is a super idea too. 🙂
Marjorie, just make sure to order a real snow cone scooper not an ice scooper.I have a plastic one with a long handle and it makes perfect snow ball shapes.It workes GREAT.I ordered it off ebay for about 15.00 and its worth its weight in gold.
also each cooler will produce 40 snow cones.I sell mine for 2.50 and make them really big. I also make slushies with this ice just add some water to the ice and syrup stur it up really good and you have a slushie. I sell there for 3.50 I make more money in these and snow cones than I do with my dogs or brats.On a really hot day I have sold over 500.00 just on my ice products.I make my slushies really big too,what the heck its only ice , syrup, and water!!!!!
How many ounces are your cups?
The main characteristic of shave ice, is that its stars to melt as son as it touches your mouth. Main difference compare to snow cones. Shave (also known as shaved ice) ice is preferred to any other ice treat, because since its shaved it produces smaller ice crystals which absorbs and keeps the flavor al the way until you have finish your cup. I am a Sno Biz distributor for Honduras and we work with Swan and Hatsuyuki ice block machines at our store, with these machines you make your own ice using plastic buckets, but we also distribute some machines made in Taiwan that you can get at ebay… for 250.00 US$ on the lower price range lower than that don’t buy it. And do not get the hand crank ones they do not work for traffic. Be careful what ever you buy you will probably need to be NSF approved in order to pass inspection from the health department, that’s why the Swan and Hatsuyuki are preferred they are NSF, easy maintenance, parts available, instructional videos everywhere, plus they come regular 110volts and also have models ready to be use with a deep Cycle marine battery and one charge can last you up to 600 cups. What about Flavors??? Well there are a lots of them from different companies but we prefer the ones that come as dry powder just add a bit of water, less than a gallon and 5 lbs. of sugar, mix it well and let it stand for an hour or so… No need to add additional ingredients. Or heat water. And if is store well can last up to 30 days. The cream (toping) also comes as a dry mix you just add water mix it well, let it stand for 30 minutes and that’s it…
Hope this helps…. It is a good business I have been doing it for almost 4 years and sold over 60 plus machines and put in business more than 40 people. All the machines we have sold are Taiwanese because it’s hard to sell the 2000 plus machine swan and hatsuyuki machines down here in Honduras… by the way make sure you get a foot pedal with your machine it makes everything go faster…
Okay everyone, I used to sell snow cones here in Chattanooga, TN for a while off the back of my little truck. I did well, but gas was killing me. Anyway, now since I have a hot dog cart and selling snow cones it is working out great! There is a vendor here in Chattanooga that sells concessions and he make his own snow cone concentrate! This is the cheapest place you can get this concentrate. If you want good snow cones follow the directions on the bottle, if you want GREAT snow cones add an extra ounce of concentrate and and an extra cup of sugar or corn syrup. Go to Holder Consessions and look at his concentrate and maybe there other things he has that could get your attention. Another note, I get snow ice from a local ice company, I have an 120 qt cooler they fill for $7. It is the by product of making ice, and good enough for snow cones but not shave ice. I know of people who use Sonic ice for their snow cones, there is good profit in snow cones but I don’t know that Sonic ice would be a good business decision.
Thanks Daryl. Great ideas!!!
Another note for those who do not want to pollute the environment with a generator (I hate the noise worse than the occasional smell myself), there is a great alternative. A marine battery from Walmart (about $90), a charger for it ($30 or $40?), and a converter you can get from any auto parts store or truck stop. It is quiet, safe and very portable. You won’t have to charge the battery every night but about every 2 or 3 nights depending on what you use it for. I had a friend who used it for his airbrush tattoo business, he powered his compressor, lights, and music all on this system for a whole weekend without recharging. I hope this can help some of you.
I agree Daryl, the noise is the worst part. Batteries are a great alternative if you’re not sucking a ton of amps.