By Future Brown / Herald Democrat

For most industries early 2020 was filled with unpredictability and a lot of small businesses had to ask themselves some really hard questions related to their viability in the future. But there was one industry that saw a boost even economists were not ready for.

Future Marketing Insights research says in 2020, the snow cone and shaved ice industry saw an exponential rise in demand, and by 2022, the industry for the machines that make these sweet treats was valued at $3.7 billion.

That number is expected to reach $5.9 billion by 2033, the same data researchers found.

2020 started Aloha Shaved Ice on a roller coaster of highs and lows that have brought the stand to opening day 2025.

“What was so crazy was COVID affected so many people’s businesses and caused them to go out of business,” owner Christine Elkins said. “Small businesses could not keep their doors open and for me, it boosted my business because we do have a drive thru and I can shut the porch down. We did drive thru only for a while. It was a place where people who had been trapped in the house with their kids, could get out. 

“It was kind of shocking to me that something that was so awful and shut down the world helped me at that time.”

But then 2022 happened.

The property the stand rented was sold as the city of Denison worked with property owners to redevelopment the area to make space for Denison’s Chick-fil-a. 

After finding the new location, the owners had to move the stand, set up water, utilities to the site and undergo inspections.

The stand that strives to open in March was not opened until July of that year.

“We moved over here in 2022,” Elkins said of the move to 2605 Loy Lake Road in Denison. “That was the summer of awfulness. What does not kill you, makes you stronger. You have to go through it to get to the other side. That showed me that you can take anything and still come out on the other side.”

Other issues included challenges regarding traffic control as in the drive thru lane had to be altered to not infringe upon other store owners and traffic is surrounding streets.

“This is only the second year we were able to open on spring break,” Elkins said of opening day last week.

“This is how it should be. This is when it should be open. As soon as you see the bikinis go on sale at Target, you can start selling shaved ice. They are just in the mood.”

What are people in the mood for?

Well, Elkins’ stand is known for shaved ice flavors like Frozen, a wedding cake and blue cotton candy snow cone.

Other favorites include the pickadilly which is described as shaved ice with chopped pickles in the middle and on top, caramel apple which is green apple and caramel flavors layered with caramel topping, orange crush which is creamy orange flavor layered with cream topped with whipped cream and candy orange slice and mocha locha, which is coffee and chocolate flavors layered with cream and chocolate sauce.

“The children that work for me are awesome,” Elkins said of the ideas for specialty flavors. “I could not make it without them.”

Elkins works alongside her daughter and sometimes as many as five other employees.

“With that comes with a lot of ideas of what they think would taste awesome,” she said. “A lot of it is based on things like BlueBell ice cream. If they make a new flavor, we are going to try to find a way to make something out of it.”

Back in 2011 when her mother-in-law took over the stand, the menu was just a list of flavors. Elkins has been the owner since 2019.

“We would just be in here and we would watch people order certain combinations,” Elkins said. “Like the paradise on ice, some days that is all we make. People would order that combination so after a while, we made it a flavor.”

Paradise on ice is a blue coconut and pina colada shaved ice layered with cream.

“At one time, we had a menu that included like peanut butter and jelly because we had a peanut butter flavor that was really good if you put strawberry or grape with it,” Elkins said. “We had an Elvis that was like peanut butter and banana. We had a Neopolitan. We just tried things out and came down to what people would go crazy for.”

Specialty flavors from previous years included bride’s cake inspired by the Bluebell flavor, a shark week themed shaved ice, a Lucky Charms treat and purple cow which was a creamy vanilla with a bright purple color and sprinkles.

“Last year, we started ordering all these flavors,” Elkins said. “We have run out of space for it all. There was like this egg custard. We have gone through all types of things. Pink starburst is one people go crazy for.”

Elkins said the one that still tickles her taste buds is the coconut cream pie which is a cream coconut flavor layered with cream and coconut flakes topped with whip cream and coconut flakes.

“I do not like coconut at all, but the cream coconut shaved ice is my favorite,” she said.

Aloha even offers puppy stuff which includes shaved ice with chicken or beef broth plain or deluxe with whipped cream and mini treats.

“I do not want people to be afraid to come here because of what they have heard about how long the lines are sometimes,” she said. “It used to take a long, long time. But we have had to figure out how to improve things. It was a learning process. I never ran a restaurant before so we have worked at this. We are getting people in and out now. We have had customers set a timer and shown us when they make it through the line how long it has taken them to make it through and it has really improved.”

And since the shaved ice stand sometimes serves hundreds of snow cones in one day, Elkins said efficiency has been important because what will be the busiest day from the March to October run of the booth cannot be predicted.

“You cannot guess it,” Elkins said. “We have stood here in April and have one of the busiest days with no breaks. We have stood here on a Saturday in June wondering where everyone is with 30-45-minute breaks. It used to stress me out. I am one of those people who overthinks everything. I think about someone leaving a bad review or something like that. Then the next day, the line is crazy. I have had to tell myself that it is the weirdness of being in business. It can feel like that on one of those 100-degree-days in June, but it is unpredictable.”

Elkins said they have learned to role with it.

“We have people who have driven from Ardmore, Oklahoma or people who come see us on their weekend excursions,” she said. “We have had people that tell us they are from Melissa or Anna. But it is just like us. There are times when we just want Torchy’s Tacos or we want Hutchins BBQ and we will make that drive. We love that people think about us in that same way.”