Who needs Starbucks (uh, me) when Snoasis is in town?!
Saturday, July 5, 2008 
My friend Julie thought it would be a good idea to open a shaved ice business in our small town. She did her homework, opened "Snoasis" in early June and business is booming. It's rare when there aren't 20-25 people waiting in line at her "shack". Julie's kids are working, other kids are working, Julie's working, Julie's friends are working—these snow cones are HOT. I can't help but wonder what she's putting in her syrup...
Wednesday evenings are slotted for Young Women and Young Men activities for LDS kids. It's like Young Life or a Youth Group at other churches. For non-church goers, its like a kegger (minus the keg or the creepy adults lurking who bought the keg). Fun and important for these kids regardless. Julie tries her best to let the teenage LDS employees attend their church activity, so she seeks adult help to work at Snoasis on Wednesday nights.
I'm one of Julie's biggest fans and have been anxious to get in that crazy shack, help . . . and snoop around to see how she's addicting the community to her icy treats.
Last Wednesday evening I was finally able to work with Julie, one of her other girlfriends and the girlfriend's 18 year-old son. At first I thought it might be overkill for four of us to man the shack, and maybe Julie was just allowing me to help so I felt I was contributing to her project.
I worked for four hours. The first hour was slow but steady—perfect for me to learn the cash register and how to take orders. It's like Starbucks—name of customer and flavor preferences written on the cup, take the money, then pass the cup to the ice shaver person. Simple.
By 7:00 PM the line was at a minimum 20 people deep and didn't shorten until closing at 10:00 PM. Some people ate their snow cone, then got back in line for another one.
The shack's pretty small, so our rearends were bumping and we'd politely say excuse me, but other than that, there was no conversation. It was difficult to hear over the jet engine ice shaving machine—so we had to shout to each other to communicate. A crazy night.
Those kids and Julie work hard to keep up with the demand. It's not like one of those "normal" snow cone shacks where a handful of people stumble by once in a while. The people who visit Snoasis want their treat, and are willing to wait patiently, sometimes for as long as 30 minutes, for their turn to order. I've never seen anything like it.
I don't think this is just a "Utah thing", although Julie tells me Utah has proven to be a strong snow cone market. (huh?) I think it's a combination of a small town that was ripe for this business, a great location, a well-run and clean "shack", friendly employees, a tiny bit of a "Utah thing". But more than anything, I think Julie's slippin' people a little sumpin sumpin. If you know what I mean . . .
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