Ah, summer time in the Ozarks. That means spending time at the lake or pool all weekend. Lighting up the grill to barbecue some burgers and hot dogs with family and friends! Of course after all the fun of swimming and eating is had, you got to cool down with some sort of dessert. The good ol days was when the ice cream man would be driving neighborhood to neighborhood. Hearing that bell ringing a block away, gave you just enough time to run inside to your parents to get money and go flag the jeep down to get that tasty treat!
Growing up in a small town meant there wasn't always a ton of options for a place that just served desserts. We could always drive to neighboring towns in search of something, but you always wished there was something more accessible. Now, were in the age of food trucks and trailers! You want tacos, bam they are there. You want donuts, shoot an ambulance can deliver them to your door step! In these days of conveniences there is a bright shining beacon of tasty light. An icy cool treat with so many flavors to choose from it will make your head spin, I'm talking about Snoballz shaved ice! Yes, yes snow cones/shaved ice have been around for many a years, but having the convenience of a Hawaiian shaved ice stand that is mobile and can come to your town, well now that is something else!
Ozark has been blessed with a great shaved ice stand for 6+ years now. Serving delicious shaved ice with homemade syrups made fresh daily! Zeda Anderson and her family have made shaved Hawaiian ice, not only a great treat on those hot summer days, but an even better family business that is putting smiles on peoples faces and maybe a colorful syrup mustache as well! Please enjoy this weeks interview with the owner and operator of Sno Ballz Shaved Ice!
BD: How long has Sno Ballz been serving shaved ice in Ozark, Mo and what made your family decide to get into the shaved ice business?
Zeda: Snoballz Shaved Ice has been around since the summer of 2014 - which makes this our 7th season! My mother, Courtney McCurdy, started this business for my brother & I to earn money for cars, college, etc. Our family had a love for shaved ice & Snoballz was born!
My grandpa & uncle built Snoballz onto a flatbed trailer with just a sketch of the building idea we had in mind. It was built right in our driveway & our vision came to life! They also hand craft all our games we have at our stand
We had a passion to make a place where families could enjoy authentic Hawaiian shaved ice - along with having a clean & safe environment to hang out.
BD: : I have heard that you employ a lot of local kids, which is awesome! What drove this business practice?
Zeda: we are 100% operated by local kids. Since my brother & I started working at Snoballz when we were 13 & 15, we realized that there was a need for young kids to dip their toes into the working world. However, just because teenagers/young adults run the day to day operations doesn’t mean our quality is any less! We spend lots of time training, teaching & guiding these kids.
BD: You have so many great flavors! Where do you get all your flavor ideas from?
Zeda: Our style of Snoballz is having authentic Hawaiian flavors/toppings along with the classic flavors people know & love. Haupia, Ling Hing Mui, & Melona are just some of our Hawaiian flavors we make.
Not many people catch onto this but, our menu has a section for our unique combinations. All the names to each combination have a tie to the 50s. “Poodle Skirt”, “Flat Top”, & “Sock Hop” are just some of them.
I have spent many years creating each of our combinations to try to perfect them! You can find new combinations yearly which we add to our menu. You can also create your own combination which is also very popular.
BD: What is the process when it comes to making the syrups for the shaved ice?
Zeda: We make all our syrups every single morning with 100% cane sugar. We use NO preservatives, additives, high fructose corn syrup, or aspartame. Our Snoballz are dairy & gluten free - we even have sugar free options!
Our ice is shaved finely into a snow like consistency where we pour a generous amount of syrup & top with your favorite toppings.
BD: Is there a flavor that is more popular than the rest?
Zeda: Our top seller by far is “Strawberry Shortcake” which consist of strawberry & wedding cake then topped with snocap (our sweet cream). Our most popular single flavor would have to be Tigers Blood or Blue Raspberry.
BD: Not only is Sno Ballz serving up tasty shaved ice, but there is a lot of stuff to do at the location! Who came up with the idea to have things such as tether ball and jumbo connect four on site?
Zeda: The idea for the games & activities we have outside our stand came collectively from the family! We started out with just corn hole & over the years have added tether ball, badminton, life sized connect 4 & more!
BD: What does the future hold for Sno Ballz? Any big plans in store?
Zeda: The future for Snoballz is to expand to have 3 trailers to be able to travel more. We plan to forever be at our main location in Ozark (1751 James River Rd) but we like to frequent smaller towns such as Aurora & Clever with our traveling trailer.
We have a few other ideas in the works as far as our main location - but everyone will have to stay tuned for that announcement!
Zeda & Caleb Anderson, Courtyney McCurdy and Jack McCurdy. Owners and operators of Snoballz Shaved Ice