Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

I have a question: Wouldn't it be almost the same if I used my flaked ice, a scooper and the syrup to make sno cones? Do I really need the machine? It looks like the ice is about the same size, though I might be wrong...

Can't see any reason this wouldn't work if the ice particles are a reasonably close to the size an ice shaver produces...

I've seen other people do it that way, too, and it seems to be ok. The syrup doesn't cost much. I say go for it!

I sold snow cones made from my flaked ice a few years ago. The kids loved them, but there were a couple problems. They are messy. First, the ice falls off the crown top and that sticky syrup then falls on the seat or the floor. Secondly, I had the pour type lids for the syrup. The giant carpenter ants up here found their way into the theatre and into the bottles. That was disgusting and the end of snowcones for me.

I still sell them during our annual parade on the 4th of July, but that's it. They eat them on the street.

Just for info, I refuse to give cups of ice to anyone under 25. The punk kids tried making snowballs with the flaked ice and threw one before I saw what was going on. That was about four years ago.

Good point about the mess. And another good point about the parade, we have one too, in a few weeks. I was going to open for concession sales but may let my kids sell sno cones for a dollar or something...

Is there any source that sells quarts of the syrup? Or assortments?

A quart isn't much flavoring, I haven't seen anyone sell it in less than 1 gallon jugs. Check with the concession suppliers in your area, or your food supplier. The syrup is very cheap somewhere between $5-$8 a gallon, most places will let you split the cases of it and get whatever flavors you want. Often times when I've run theatres on main streets where there were parades and such, it was hard to get the people to come in to the theatre, so we would put a 6 foot table outside with popcorn, soda, cotton candy and sno-cones. That always did great. But you can't get the HIGH theatre prices for the stuff. Great extra money though. Good Luck

We used to sell sno-cones... a mixed blessing.

Arguably, they sold fairly well. On the other hand, the same labor time went into making a $1.00 sno-cone that went into serving a $4.50 popcorn. That tended to tie up the staff too much. As mentioned above, they are messy. The ice flaker will make a good cone. If you buy a machine, a cuber will fill the shaver just fine. If the ice cabinet starts leaking, it's all over... you'll never seem to get it sealed up well enough.

For us, it was just too much trouble for the money it made. If it's for you however, you can do reasonably well with it. Syrups are generally available from the kind of wholesalers that carry espresso flavorings.