My name is Nolan Southwood, I am 21 years old and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. You may think that we have all the snow we need up here, but nothing compares to Snowies Ice Treats. I work as a supervisor at a natural health food store but have long been in the business of making Snowies and other delicious treats.
This is my story:
Every kid dreams of their own personal candy shop when they get older and I was no exception to this dream. Every time my parents took me to a fair, or event, I wanted a sno-cone or cotton candy. Okay, I wanted both, but I had good parents who knew one or the other was already more than enough sugar for their already overexcited child.
I was seven when my parents made the decision to open up their own business selling sweet treats. In a few short years our business grew from one, to two plastic tables and a couple of overhead canvas tents full of treats that would have made my seven year old self get a sugar high just by looking at our booth. Finally we got to the moment when we decided to really invest in the family business and bought ourselves a nice trailer to sell from. We had already been working hard selling mini-donuts, caramel popcorn, candy/caramel apples, cotton candy, fudge, and everything in between. We knew something was missing on those blazing hot days in the sun so we began our research. Eventually we had it narrowed down to either fresh squeezed lemonade, or investing in a Snowie 1000 ice shaver. What really tipped the scale was a hot day at a music festival that was very slow for our business. It seemed that every time we sold a bag of mini donuts, we were running across the field to buy ourselves a sno-cone from a gentleman who was selling Snowies. As his number one customers that day, we got talking about his machine and how easy it was to use and supply (we absolutely love the self flavouring stations) and by the end of the week we had ordered our own machine. I was in heaven. After my first 30 or 40 Snowies I discovered a second (and oh so much fun) use for these machines is their immaculate precision in making the perfect snow balls to throw at my older brother when his back is turned. Better yet, asking him to grab something from underneath the machine for me and hitting the on switch at the perfect moment to blast his chest with the snow this machine creates. It is an ongoing battle for us both at every event!!
In all honestly, I am very grateful to Snowie. Putting aside all the amazing things the income from this company has allowed us to do, like a trip to Disneyland, purchasing a quad, and helping my brother and I pay for our post-secondary education, what it’s really done is brought my family closer together more than anything else has. We work hard together, and now we can afford to play hard together. Our Snowie 1000 Ice shaver has helped our company double its profits and I feel we would not have been able to keep up the business without it. Since our purchase, we can’t keep up with the line-ups.
As an adult I can now look back on our success and really thank Snowie, for the tools we needed to learn what it meant to run our own business, and above all, how to grow closer as a family.