November 13, 2024 • 24 mins
Are you looking for an authentic Hawaiian experience in South Florida? Look no further than Sweet Aloha Ice Cream! This video explores the Aloha lifestyle and the delicious flavors of Haole Boys Shave Ice. Sweet Aloha Ice Cream is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and experience a taste of paradise. Their shave ice is made with fresh, local ingredients and comes in a variety of flavors to tantalize your taste buds. So what are you waiting for? Head to Sweet Aloha Ice Cream today and mention #soflodining to experience a taste of Aloha!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, I'm Doris with the D. Welcome back.
(00:08):
So-so dining here.
We have the chef's table and today we are at Sweet Aloha in Davy with Jimmy.
And Jimmy today will be under the spotlight and we're going to tell you what he's got,
where he's at and everything's delicious.
(00:31):
So we're just going to take it away.
And by the way, my first question is always how did you find yourself in the service industry?
It's a very long story to be honest with you.
Probably too long for this short little interview.
But let's just say it started as a joke and has already been looking at starting another
(00:55):
business at the time.
But when I was making a joke with my wife about the potential starting a state-life business,
she thought it was a great idea.
A couple of friends of mine thought it was a great idea.
So I started running the numbers and I thought, it's got great margins.
All we need is volume.
And so I figured it was a good opportunity for us to try.
(01:16):
And we started with the food truck in California and it really took off.
For our first event, we had a line of like 50 to 75 people for about three hours straight.
And so that was my entry experience into the food truck industry in California.
And I thought, oh, we could do this.
So that's how it kind of got started in the nutshell.
(01:40):
So this location on August 1st will be three years.
We had no idea.
Yeah.
Yeah, we got to get you out and for the people.
Yes, ma'am.
Absolutely.
So you were in California and then from California you came here?
Correct.
Now I read on the website that I cheated is the trucks were the pretty well shaved ice.
(02:04):
Correct.
Okay.
So then you came over here and went into the ice cream.
Yeah.
So we moved here.
I had no plans of opening a store to be honest with you.
I thought we'll leave the business back in California and we'll let my old employees
kind of run in for a year and see how it goes.
But on my weekends I started delving into making ice cream and I always wanted to make
(02:26):
ice cream and I really had the opportunity because I worked too much and we're too busy.
So we bought a little two-part home ice cream machine and I started making vanilla and chocolate
and some other flavors and figured that we're getting pretty good at it.
Let all my neighbors try it.
They were like, you got to open a shop like right away.
But seriously, I tasted it.
(02:46):
You've got it.
You've got it spot on the taste, the texture.
Everything is just absolutely delicious.
Thank you very much.
No, thank you.
That wasn't simple enough to convince me though.
Not you.
I'm talking about my neighbors.
So we were, it was, it was a couple months I was making ice cream, but we had a 4th
July event.
(03:07):
It was a 4th July.
I think it was 4th July weekend.
I told all my neighbors we're going to have a driveway party and I was going to bring out
my shaved ice for that.
Because I still had all my equipment with me.
I just had half of it back in California.
So of course, 30, 40, 50 of my neighbors all came that day and tried our shaved ice and
they said, Jimmy, this is like, there's nothing like this in Southern Florida at all.
(03:30):
You've got to open a shop right away.
There's like, once they told me about the ice cream and then they convinced me with my
shaved ice, I already knew my shaved ice was good because we're going to stop rambling
in California, Southern California.
So together, after hearing the feedback from them, I thought, okay, I can give this a shot
and see what happens.
So what flavors do you have on the shaved ice?
(03:52):
So we started with over a, there is a list right behind you, but that list has been consolidated.
When we first started this business, we had over a hundred and something flavors.
In the industry, it's very common for businesses to start with all these flavors, thinking
that they're going to hit everybody in the market.
(04:14):
But the truth is, I spent the first year just figuring out what are the top flavors for the
majority of our customers.
I'm talking 99 of 100 people, usually only get the top 24 flavors on my menu right now.
Yeah.
It's interesting.
Yeah.
And so I balanced the flavors with standard shaved ice snow cone flavors.
(04:34):
And though we're not anything close to snow cones, but like people have the familiarity
of the snow cone flavors, so we cater to that segment.
And then we also have our Hawaiian and Asian influence flavors or tropical flavors.
And then we also have our Latino and Hispanic infusion flavors as well.
Wow.
(04:55):
So we put all that because of Southern California on our menu and it boiled down to 24 standard
flavors.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess I was reading the stuff online.
I was like, wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was like, oh, you're amazing.
Where do you see yourself going with this?
So you're asking the guy, are you planning on doing this?
(05:19):
Yeah.
So in the beginning, I thought maybe we'll open center 12, maybe 20 stores across South
Florida, even Central Florida.
But the truth is, is our brand has changed a lot since we opened three years ago.
What started us, Holly Boy's Shave Ice in California became sweet Aloha Ice Cream as
a kind of a consolidated brand here.
(05:43):
And what I thought was just a little tiny small mom of off shop has started to become
more of a lifestyle brand.
So people that want to experience Hawaii, like I'm already going to do a sponsor.
People that experience Hawaii, that's like what I've been wanting to do since 1971.
Oh, yeah.
When I graduated from high school, yes.
We got a little piece of that here.
(06:03):
But the people that want to have that experience, like this is what they'll find here in South
Florida to have it.
So from the time you walk in the door, when we say Aloha to the service itself, to the
flavors of ice cream that we offer to the Shave Ice.
And then I make a fresh made Pog Juice as well, which is very famous in Hawaii.
But because of the lifestyle brand that's now developing for us and our customers'
(06:31):
expectations, I've changed my goal.
Now it's 2,300 stores across the country.
Oh my goodness, I love it.
I love it.
And it starts with this single store.
And we'll eventually get to 2, and 3, and 4, and 5, like 2,300 a single goal.
So all baby steps and it's all getting right.
That's one of the things that we've seen places expand.
(06:54):
That's the key, is getting the first one right.
You know, that's the paramount.
Do you have any events or special promotions planned to work your way into that expansion?
Well, sure.
Every year we do an anniversary event or party.
This year it's going to be on either.
(07:15):
Well, we'll do a ribbon cutting on August 2nd, and either August 2nd or August 3rd.
Like you think I already planned this, which I did.
But all of a sudden, all the people that were supposed to be supporting me aren't available
on Friday, August 2nd.
So I might be switching.
That's how you wrote in the 2nd string?
Yeah, right.
I love it.
Not necessarily the 2nd string.
(07:36):
But you know, there's so many things happening.
The summer is so busy that, you know, without full commitments from people, maybe even
contracting some cases, it's just hard to nail people down in those commitments.
But things change.
So I think I'm going to move our anniversary celebration to probably Saturday, August 3rd.
And we'll still do our ribbon cutting and have a little tiny celebration on the 2nd with
(08:00):
the Chamber of Commerce in the City of Davey.
But besides that, every year we have, I created the first annual Aloha Always event for Valentine's
Day.
Right?
That was a very special event for us.
We changed the entire design and interior of the store.
We put that Instagram wall up over there, which you guys can see when you walk in.
(08:22):
And I had help from a customer with that.
So it became a special event.
Everyone gave me positive, great feedback and continued to do stuff like that.
Plus, Lei Day is May 1st.
So that's another big celebration that we do.
Lei Day is a celebration in Hawaii.
It's almost like a state holiday where people present Lei and the essence of spreading the
(08:45):
Aloha spirit.
And Lei itself is like a manifestation of Aloha.
So it's a really big holiday there.
And tell us all about Aloha meetings.
It's really hard to define Aloha in a simple term because it's actually a very complex
concept.
But Aloha in the simplest sense is just being a good person and being part of the community.
(09:11):
But more than that, it's being kind and compassionate towards others and being accepting and warm
and being considerate and helpful and acknowledging that everybody is part of the community.
And you're all together as one.
There's no separation from the community.
And so Aloha is really the embodiment of the Hawaiian culture.
(09:35):
And it's even written into their laws, believe it or not.
They actually have a state statue.
It's a good place.
Yeah.
It's really amazing.
And my experience is from my wife's family, of course.
They welcome me into their family without really knowing me too well.
Like I'm an outsider.
What's called a Hali.
And I accept that.
And I own it.
Hali boy.
(09:55):
That's my nickname.
And so having that experience, meeting their family and being integrated and understanding
what Aloha means from their perspective, kind of give me insight.
And I'm like, I want to show that we're going to be good people.
It's an amazing idea and comfort.
I love it.
I told them about the love.
No, it's great.
I was in Hawaii when I was much younger, 16.
(10:18):
And everybody just so friendly, totally different.
Yeah.
It's like, I mean, it sounds stupid saying like you feel like you're in a different country
or a different world, but you really do.
You really get a different sense as, you know, I was younger and I went to the stores and
people wanted to help me.
Right.
And I was just like, it was weird.
(10:38):
I was used to, hey kid, get out of here.
You know, where they really wanted to help you.
Just get around with love.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
I love it.
I kind of feel like a long time ago, across most of the United States, we had kind of similar
culture, but, you know, because we're always active and on the go and we're always focused
on other things, we've kind of lost a little bit of that.
(11:01):
But Hawaii, in essence, has really engulfed it into their entire culture.
They've really kind of encapsulated the whole idea.
Yeah.
Yeah, it works for me.
Yeah.
It's for sure.
So now this is a two-pronged question.
Because you have two different products.
(11:22):
So on the ice cream, what is the number one flavor?
What is your most popular flavor?
So we have more than two products, by the way.
How about this month?
Well, yeah.
So this month?
Yeah.
And even though I do seasonal flavors and they change up month to month, there are some
standard top flavors.
(11:42):
So in addition to the ice cream and the shaved ice, I make a fresh made clogged juice, which
is also popular.
And then I just started importing Kona coffee from Hawaii as well.
Ice whatever you want.
So technically that's a new product for us.
And honestly, Kona coffee is probably, Kona coffee chocolate chip is probably one of our
(12:04):
most top flavors.
People walk in and they get pints of it at a time.
Banana cream is another top one.
Ube, that's such a unique flavor.
But by way of Hawaii and current food culture, Ube has become really popular.
And then lemon salad is really popular this season, this summer season.
(12:26):
And then I'll make Kilaan pie that will be coming out probably next week.
And some more flavors.
So you actively changed up the flavors?
100%.
Because I have 140 recipes I've made so far and only 20 positions.
Oh, okay.
Cool.
It's kind of hard to make them all and have them all available.
So you can't get bored?
Yeah, you almost can't get bored.
(12:49):
One customer said every time I come in there's a new flavor.
I think they're being generous.
I don't think it's every time I come in.
But it's really nice to hear that feedback because I feel like they recognize how much
we change up different flavors.
But I'll be honest, if I take lemon snap out for another two, then somebody will call
me and be like, I can't wait for lemon snap to come back.
(13:09):
So I gotta...
That's nice.
Even though I'm rotating them out, it's kind of hard not to bring them back.
As a chef, I understand.
I put something on as a special.
If somebody come back, I used to have the lobster fried diablo.
And is that on today?
No.
When it's coming on again.
No.
Right?
And then I had customers where I had to make it for them.
But you don't understand.
(13:29):
I don't have lobster.
You have shrimp?
Yeah.
Make it.
Yeah.
Okay.
We have those customers.
Yeah.
Customers.
Now, on the shaved ice, what is the top flavors?
So the top flavors are going to depend on who you ask because everyone has different
flavor profiles.
On our website, we actually have a list of...
(13:51):
That I developed over two years of the top time customer favorite combos.
And so that caters to the majority of our customer base, whether whichever group you
fall into, there's something in there for you.
If you ask me, the one that I have my favorite preference is actually a little personal.
(14:12):
So my wife, Auntie, she had asked me to make a flavor for her that reminded her of Hawaii.
And believe it or not, at that point in time, I actually hadn't been to Hawaii.
So I didn't know what the essence of Hawaii was officially.
So I was like, well, I can bestimate and I can kind of make some assumptions.
And so I did.
(14:33):
I made a Hawaiian style shaved ice that has been on ice cream at the bottom.
The wawa, ash, fruit, and papaya with condensed milk on top.
I'm already sobered.
And I gave it to her.
And she's used...
She grew up eating shaved ice in Hawaii.
She had our Hawaiian shaved ice the first time we made it.
She had some feedback for us in the beginning and we got really good at making it.
(14:57):
And then about five minutes later, she comes back after I made this for her and she goes,
Jimmy, you got to understand, I've been eating shaved ice my whole life.
This is the best shaved ice I've ever had in my entire life.
Wow.
And I thought, yeah, it's Auntie.
She's just being nice.
But she was dead serious.
And she's the kind of person that she tells you, like, legit, straight up how she feels.
(15:17):
Well, a good wife will do that.
And you're going to ask her pain about that.
Yeah.
So we decided to call that the Hawaiian sunrise.
Because it's that good.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
And it's funny because you hadn't been there for that point and you still nailed it.
Well, lucky guess.
No, no, no.
(15:38):
That would be a good relationship with your wife.
Because she had to have communicated all of that that you encompassed and brought into
reality.
There's no other way.
Probably.
Probably that her family as well.
Her family had a lasting impact on me as far as understanding the culture, the Hawaiian
(15:59):
culture.
Like, I know that being an outsider looking in, it's very difficult to understand what
people's different struggles or different social situations growing up.
But they're really open people.
And they're very friendly.
And they're very welcoming.
And they help you understand what the culture's about.
So I feel like that kind of translated that into the Hawaiian sunrise a little bit.
(16:23):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
You felt it.
You felt it.
If you felt it, you could create it.
It's the aloha, right?
Yes, sir.
Right.
Yes, sir.
Absolutely.
Now, on the ice cream side, what's your favorite?
Oh, so I grew up in the cherry courgette that I used to buy at the grocery store.
And so as an adult, and starting my own ice cream brand, I said, that's obviously my
(16:46):
favorite because I've been eating it since I was nine years old.
So I still, still my favorite.
But I figured once I get there and I can make different flavors, I can really like test
my palate.
Like, it's all caramel so good.
It's a competitor.
But coconut coffee is also, cream coffee chocolate is also one of my favorite flavors.
You also have salted caramel.
(17:07):
Yeah, it's all caramel.
That's, for me, it's really hard to have a favorite because I do love them all.
Yeah.
And, you know, it's kind of crazy to say this, but it's like kids, you're not supposed to
have a favorite.
But you can love them all.
The same.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
One by one.
Why gross?
(17:27):
I'm at a point right now where all I want to do is try this.
Fuck it.
So we do offer free samples.
Well, that's a good thing.
Yes.
I think I'm going to take you up on the free samples.
(17:49):
This has been just absolutely so wonderful.
You're opening up your shop to us and your customers and everything.
I'm sure no lunch, but I really sure know this stuff.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, you rescued us and I think we rescued you a little bit too.
Yeah.
So it's a wonderful thing.
All same.
Yeah.
(18:10):
Everything happens for a reason.
We all get together when we need to find each other and be there for each other.
One last question.
We normally ask the chefs.
If I'm going to ask him.
Yeah, go ahead.
Comfort food.
What should we do?
Man, it obviously doesn't have to be.
No, we've had five star chefs come up with hot dog, peanut butter and jelly.
(18:35):
What's your comfort food?
I have a few actually.
Okay.
One of them is what my grandmother used to make for me called gruelash.
How's that?
Gary.
Gary.
Gary.
I don't know if it's her Polish version because she's similar.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Hamburger, tomatoes or Italian seasoning, whatever and some macaroni.
(18:57):
So good.
So that, you know, makes me forget from, you know, remembering my grandmother.
Everything, but more recently, I have two more.
Technically two more.
Carbonara.
Oh, my carbonara, like good carbonara, not watered down carbonara.
And certainly not with mushrooms or too many onions.
(19:19):
No.
Yeah.
No.
You can make carbonara right.
Man, it's so good.
And then Hawaiian plate lunch food in Stamos City.
Hawaiian plate lunch food?
Yeah.
Like Teraki chicken and Teraki beef.
My favorite food outside of my carbonara and my gruelash is Hawaiian plate lunch Teraki
(19:41):
beef.
Wow.
I could eat that for hours and even Kola pork.
And my wife makes this amazing Kola pork and we also make Kola pork sliders.
So good.
Uh-oh.
And uh, uh-oh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
By the way, which we also have usually at our anniversary parties.
We offer food sometimes.
(20:02):
I'll take that as an invitation.
Cool.
Thank you, Jimmy.
You're amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
You want to tell us about the business and anything coming off where you're located,
how they can get you?
Okay.
So we're located here in Davy, Florida, off the State Road 84 between Pine Island and
(20:23):
University.
The address is 8600 West State Road 84.
We have our sweet A, which means we're the first, we're the end cap across three from
Billy's restaurant.
If you guys, if anybody knows what that is.
Oh yeah.
My friends do.
Yeah.
We used to go there for a happy hour.
Yeah.
Way back well.
Yeah.
(20:44):
A lot of people still do actually.
So that's our main, that's our primary location right now.
And so we have lower stores.
We have our website, obviously sweetalohaisream.com.
Beautiful website.
Beautiful.
I check out everyone's website.
They're easy to navigate.
Thank you.
Still work in progress, but thank you very much.
People can find us on social media, Instagram, and sweetalohaisdaviefl to make it easy for
(21:08):
everyone.
Facebook, TikTok.
Not very good at Snapchat.
So I don't really do too much there, but it's still trying.
And then a few things like right now, Sun Sentinel is having a best ice cream shop recommendation
right now.
So if our viewers want to come and check us out and they want to nominate us, I'd really
(21:29):
appreciate that.
And I think that link is on your website.
It's on our social media account right now.
Okay.
So if I get it, I'll put it on this also.
At the end of this video, I'll put it.
I'll be outstanding.
I'm sure Sun Sentinel will be happy and I'll be certainly grateful as well.
Cool.
And then most people don't know this.
We're ranked number two in the state of Florida for 2022 out of the top ice cream shops.
(21:53):
Oh, awesome.
And last year, we ranked number 19 in the country out of the top 100 ice cream shops on Yelp.com.
And that's all customer reviews over the years.
Congratulations.
I mean, you should be so proud.
From the people.
Yep.
Yeah.
So, you know, our employees do a tremendous job of providing great service, but the customers
(22:17):
have to acknowledge that somehow and usually Yelp and Google reviews is the way to do it.
So we're really thankful for that.
Cool.
Other than that, we love to spread the aloha.
So we're always looking for opportunities to engage and engage with our communities.
We do a lot of sponsorships.
I was going to say, do you any catering or like all the premise stuff?
(22:38):
Correct.
Yeah.
We do catering off premise with the Shave Ice.
We can do the ice cream.
Right now we have little party packs basically that we sell.
Pretty scooped, ordered ice cream.
Matter of fact, we sponsor one of the local schools and they do an end of the year, fifth
grade party every year and we prepare 200 scoops every year for the graduating class.
(22:59):
Pretty awesome.
So we have all that capability as well.
Okay, cool.
How are you?
I'm good.
Yeah.
I'm sure the community loves you and whoever didn't know you in the community, they get
to know you now.
Yeah.
We're looking forward to meeting everyone.
Everyone.
Oh, absolutely.
I can see why.
You have so much love to give.
That's right.
(23:20):
Yeah.
We can try some of it.
We can try some of the Loja here.
We can try some of the Loja.
We can try some of the Loja.
Yeah.
Awesome.
As always, enjoy and we'll see you there.
Bye.
Bye.
Loja.
Loja.
I'm your ice cream man, style me when I'm passing by.
(23:54):
See now all my flavors again to satisfy.
Hold on one more.
Well, I'm usually passing by just about 11 o'clock.
I'd never stop.
I'm usually passing by just around 11 o'clock.
Hello, I'm Doris with the D. Welcome back.
(00:08):
So-so dining here.
We have the chef's table and today we are at Sweet Aloha in Davy with Jimmy.
And Jimmy today will be under the spotlight and we're going to tell you what he's got,
where he's at and everything's delicious.
(00:31):
So we're just going to take it away.
And by the way, my first question is always how did you find yourself in the service industry?
It's a very long story to be honest with you.
Probably too long for this short little interview.
But let's just say it started as a joke and has already been looking at starting another
(00:55):
business at the time.
But when I was making a joke with my wife about the potential starting a state-life business,
she thought it was a great idea.
A couple of friends of mine thought it was a great idea.
So I started running the numbers and I thought, it's got great margins.
All we need is volume.
And so I figured it was a good opportunity for us to try.
(01:16):
And we started with the food truck in California and it really took off.
For our first event, we had a line of like 50 to 75 people for about three hours straight.
And so that was my entry experience into the food truck industry in California.
And I thought, oh, we could do this.
So that's how it kind of got started in the nutshell.
(01:40):
So this location on August 1st will be three years.
We had no idea.
Yeah.
Yeah, we got to get you out and for the people.
Yes, ma'am.
Absolutely.
So you were in California and then from California you came here?
Correct.
Now I read on the website that I cheated is the trucks were the pretty well shaved ice.
(02:04):
Correct.
Okay.
So then you came over here and went into the ice cream.
Yeah.
So we moved here.
I had no plans of opening a store to be honest with you.
I thought we'll leave the business back in California and we'll let my old employees
kind of run in for a year and see how it goes.
But on my weekends I started delving into making ice cream and I always wanted to make
(02:26):
ice cream and I really had the opportunity because I worked too much and we're too busy.
So we bought a little two-part home ice cream machine and I started making vanilla and chocolate
and some other flavors and figured that we're getting pretty good at it.
Let all my neighbors try it.
They were like, you got to open a shop like right away.
But seriously, I tasted it.
(02:46):
You've got it.
You've got it spot on the taste, the texture.
Everything is just absolutely delicious.
Thank you very much.
No, thank you.
That wasn't simple enough to convince me though.
Not you.
I'm talking about my neighbors.
So we were, it was, it was a couple months I was making ice cream, but we had a 4th
July event.
(03:07):
It was a 4th July.
I think it was 4th July weekend.
I told all my neighbors we're going to have a driveway party and I was going to bring out
my shaved ice for that.
Because I still had all my equipment with me.
I just had half of it back in California.
So of course, 30, 40, 50 of my neighbors all came that day and tried our shaved ice and
they said, Jimmy, this is like, there's nothing like this in Southern Florida at all.
(03:30):
You've got to open a shop right away.
There's like, once they told me about the ice cream and then they convinced me with my
shaved ice, I already knew my shaved ice was good because we're going to stop rambling
in California, Southern California.
So together, after hearing the feedback from them, I thought, okay, I can give this a shot
and see what happens.
So what flavors do you have on the shaved ice?
(03:52):
So we started with over a, there is a list right behind you, but that list has been consolidated.
When we first started this business, we had over a hundred and something flavors.
In the industry, it's very common for businesses to start with all these flavors, thinking
that they're going to hit everybody in the market.
(04:14):
But the truth is, I spent the first year just figuring out what are the top flavors for the
majority of our customers.
I'm talking 99 of 100 people, usually only get the top 24 flavors on my menu right now.
Yeah.
It's interesting.
Yeah.
And so I balanced the flavors with standard shaved ice snow cone flavors.
(04:34):
And though we're not anything close to snow cones, but like people have the familiarity
of the snow cone flavors, so we cater to that segment.
And then we also have our Hawaiian and Asian influence flavors or tropical flavors.
And then we also have our Latino and Hispanic infusion flavors as well.
Wow.
(04:55):
So we put all that because of Southern California on our menu and it boiled down to 24 standard
flavors.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess I was reading the stuff online.
I was like, wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was like, oh, you're amazing.
Where do you see yourself going with this?
So you're asking the guy, are you planning on doing this?
(05:19):
Yeah.
So in the beginning, I thought maybe we'll open center 12, maybe 20 stores across South
Florida, even Central Florida.
But the truth is, is our brand has changed a lot since we opened three years ago.
What started us, Holly Boy's Shave Ice in California became sweet Aloha Ice Cream as
a kind of a consolidated brand here.
(05:43):
And what I thought was just a little tiny small mom of off shop has started to become
more of a lifestyle brand.
So people that want to experience Hawaii, like I'm already going to do a sponsor.
People that experience Hawaii, that's like what I've been wanting to do since 1971.
Oh, yeah.
When I graduated from high school, yes.
We got a little piece of that here.
(06:03):
But the people that want to have that experience, like this is what they'll find here in South
Florida to have it.
So from the time you walk in the door, when we say Aloha to the service itself, to the
flavors of ice cream that we offer to the Shave Ice.
And then I make a fresh made Pog Juice as well, which is very famous in Hawaii.
But because of the lifestyle brand that's now developing for us and our customers'
(06:31):
expectations, I've changed my goal.
Now it's 2,300 stores across the country.
Oh my goodness, I love it.
I love it.
And it starts with this single store.
And we'll eventually get to 2, and 3, and 4, and 5, like 2,300 a single goal.
So all baby steps and it's all getting right.
That's one of the things that we've seen places expand.
(06:54):
That's the key, is getting the first one right.
You know, that's the paramount.
Do you have any events or special promotions planned to work your way into that expansion?
Well, sure.
Every year we do an anniversary event or party.
This year it's going to be on either.
(07:15):
Well, we'll do a ribbon cutting on August 2nd, and either August 2nd or August 3rd.
Like you think I already planned this, which I did.
But all of a sudden, all the people that were supposed to be supporting me aren't available
on Friday, August 2nd.
So I might be switching.
That's how you wrote in the 2nd string?
Yeah, right.
I love it.
Not necessarily the 2nd string.
(07:36):
But you know, there's so many things happening.
The summer is so busy that, you know, without full commitments from people, maybe even
contracting some cases, it's just hard to nail people down in those commitments.
But things change.
So I think I'm going to move our anniversary celebration to probably Saturday, August 3rd.
And we'll still do our ribbon cutting and have a little tiny celebration on the 2nd with
(08:00):
the Chamber of Commerce in the City of Davey.
But besides that, every year we have, I created the first annual Aloha Always event for Valentine's
Day.
Right?
That was a very special event for us.
We changed the entire design and interior of the store.
We put that Instagram wall up over there, which you guys can see when you walk in.
(08:22):
And I had help from a customer with that.
So it became a special event.
Everyone gave me positive, great feedback and continued to do stuff like that.
Plus, Lei Day is May 1st.
So that's another big celebration that we do.
Lei Day is a celebration in Hawaii.
It's almost like a state holiday where people present Lei and the essence of spreading the
(08:45):
Aloha spirit.
And Lei itself is like a manifestation of Aloha.
So it's a really big holiday there.
And tell us all about Aloha meetings.
It's really hard to define Aloha in a simple term because it's actually a very complex
concept.
But Aloha in the simplest sense is just being a good person and being part of the community.
(09:11):
But more than that, it's being kind and compassionate towards others and being accepting and warm
and being considerate and helpful and acknowledging that everybody is part of the community.
And you're all together as one.
There's no separation from the community.
And so Aloha is really the embodiment of the Hawaiian culture.
(09:35):
And it's even written into their laws, believe it or not.
They actually have a state statue.
It's a good place.
Yeah.
It's really amazing.
And my experience is from my wife's family, of course.
They welcome me into their family without really knowing me too well.
Like I'm an outsider.
What's called a Hali.
And I accept that.
And I own it.
Hali boy.
(09:55):
That's my nickname.
And so having that experience, meeting their family and being integrated and understanding
what Aloha means from their perspective, kind of give me insight.
And I'm like, I want to show that we're going to be good people.
It's an amazing idea and comfort.
I love it.
I told them about the love.
No, it's great.
I was in Hawaii when I was much younger, 16.
(10:18):
And everybody just so friendly, totally different.
Yeah.
It's like, I mean, it sounds stupid saying like you feel like you're in a different country
or a different world, but you really do.
You really get a different sense as, you know, I was younger and I went to the stores and
people wanted to help me.
Right.
And I was just like, it was weird.
(10:38):
I was used to, hey kid, get out of here.
You know, where they really wanted to help you.
Just get around with love.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
I love it.
I kind of feel like a long time ago, across most of the United States, we had kind of similar
culture, but, you know, because we're always active and on the go and we're always focused
on other things, we've kind of lost a little bit of that.
(11:01):
But Hawaii, in essence, has really engulfed it into their entire culture.
They've really kind of encapsulated the whole idea.
Yeah.
Yeah, it works for me.
Yeah.
It's for sure.
So now this is a two-pronged question.
Because you have two different products.
(11:22):
So on the ice cream, what is the number one flavor?
What is your most popular flavor?
So we have more than two products, by the way.
How about this month?
Well, yeah.
So this month?
Yeah.
And even though I do seasonal flavors and they change up month to month, there are some
standard top flavors.
(11:42):
So in addition to the ice cream and the shaved ice, I make a fresh made clogged juice, which
is also popular.
And then I just started importing Kona coffee from Hawaii as well.
Ice whatever you want.
So technically that's a new product for us.
And honestly, Kona coffee is probably, Kona coffee chocolate chip is probably one of our
(12:04):
most top flavors.
People walk in and they get pints of it at a time.
Banana cream is another top one.
Ube, that's such a unique flavor.
But by way of Hawaii and current food culture, Ube has become really popular.
And then lemon salad is really popular this season, this summer season.
(12:26):
And then I'll make Kilaan pie that will be coming out probably next week.
And some more flavors.
So you actively changed up the flavors?
100%.
Because I have 140 recipes I've made so far and only 20 positions.
Oh, okay.
Cool.
It's kind of hard to make them all and have them all available.
So you can't get bored?
Yeah, you almost can't get bored.
(12:49):
One customer said every time I come in there's a new flavor.
I think they're being generous.
I don't think it's every time I come in.
But it's really nice to hear that feedback because I feel like they recognize how much
we change up different flavors.
But I'll be honest, if I take lemon snap out for another two, then somebody will call
me and be like, I can't wait for lemon snap to come back.
(13:09):
So I gotta...
That's nice.
Even though I'm rotating them out, it's kind of hard not to bring them back.
As a chef, I understand.
I put something on as a special.
If somebody come back, I used to have the lobster fried diablo.
And is that on today?
No.
When it's coming on again.
No.
Right?
And then I had customers where I had to make it for them.
But you don't understand.
(13:29):
I don't have lobster.
You have shrimp?
Yeah.
Make it.
Yeah.
Okay.
We have those customers.
Yeah.
Customers.
Now, on the shaved ice, what is the top flavors?
So the top flavors are going to depend on who you ask because everyone has different
flavor profiles.
On our website, we actually have a list of...
(13:51):
That I developed over two years of the top time customer favorite combos.
And so that caters to the majority of our customer base, whether whichever group you
fall into, there's something in there for you.
If you ask me, the one that I have my favorite preference is actually a little personal.
(14:12):
So my wife, Auntie, she had asked me to make a flavor for her that reminded her of Hawaii.
And believe it or not, at that point in time, I actually hadn't been to Hawaii.
So I didn't know what the essence of Hawaii was officially.
So I was like, well, I can bestimate and I can kind of make some assumptions.
And so I did.
(14:33):
I made a Hawaiian style shaved ice that has been on ice cream at the bottom.
The wawa, ash, fruit, and papaya with condensed milk on top.
I'm already sobered.
And I gave it to her.
And she's used...
She grew up eating shaved ice in Hawaii.
She had our Hawaiian shaved ice the first time we made it.
She had some feedback for us in the beginning and we got really good at making it.
(14:57):
And then about five minutes later, she comes back after I made this for her and she goes,
Jimmy, you got to understand, I've been eating shaved ice my whole life.
This is the best shaved ice I've ever had in my entire life.
Wow.
And I thought, yeah, it's Auntie.
She's just being nice.
But she was dead serious.
And she's the kind of person that she tells you, like, legit, straight up how she feels.
(15:17):
Well, a good wife will do that.
And you're going to ask her pain about that.
Yeah.
So we decided to call that the Hawaiian sunrise.
Because it's that good.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
And it's funny because you hadn't been there for that point and you still nailed it.
Well, lucky guess.
No, no, no.
(15:38):
That would be a good relationship with your wife.
Because she had to have communicated all of that that you encompassed and brought into
reality.
There's no other way.
Probably.
Probably that her family as well.
Her family had a lasting impact on me as far as understanding the culture, the Hawaiian
(15:59):
culture.
Like, I know that being an outsider looking in, it's very difficult to understand what
people's different struggles or different social situations growing up.
But they're really open people.
And they're very friendly.
And they're very welcoming.
And they help you understand what the culture's about.
So I feel like that kind of translated that into the Hawaiian sunrise a little bit.
(16:23):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
You felt it.
You felt it.
If you felt it, you could create it.
It's the aloha, right?
Yes, sir.
Right.
Yes, sir.
Absolutely.
Now, on the ice cream side, what's your favorite?
Oh, so I grew up in the cherry courgette that I used to buy at the grocery store.
And so as an adult, and starting my own ice cream brand, I said, that's obviously my
(16:46):
favorite because I've been eating it since I was nine years old.
So I still, still my favorite.
But I figured once I get there and I can make different flavors, I can really like test
my palate.
Like, it's all caramel so good.
It's a competitor.
But coconut coffee is also, cream coffee chocolate is also one of my favorite flavors.
You also have salted caramel.
(17:07):
Yeah, it's all caramel.
That's, for me, it's really hard to have a favorite because I do love them all.
Yeah.
And, you know, it's kind of crazy to say this, but it's like kids, you're not supposed to
have a favorite.
But you can love them all.
The same.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
One by one.
Why gross?
(17:27):
I'm at a point right now where all I want to do is try this.
Fuck it.
So we do offer free samples.
Well, that's a good thing.
Yes.
I think I'm going to take you up on the free samples.
(17:49):
This has been just absolutely so wonderful.
You're opening up your shop to us and your customers and everything.
I'm sure no lunch, but I really sure know this stuff.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, you rescued us and I think we rescued you a little bit too.
Yeah.
So it's a wonderful thing.
All same.
Yeah.
(18:10):
Everything happens for a reason.
We all get together when we need to find each other and be there for each other.
One last question.
We normally ask the chefs.
If I'm going to ask him.
Yeah, go ahead.
Comfort food.
What should we do?
Man, it obviously doesn't have to be.
No, we've had five star chefs come up with hot dog, peanut butter and jelly.
(18:35):
What's your comfort food?
I have a few actually.
Okay.
One of them is what my grandmother used to make for me called gruelash.
How's that?
Gary.
Gary.
Gary.
I don't know if it's her Polish version because she's similar.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Hamburger, tomatoes or Italian seasoning, whatever and some macaroni.
(18:57):
So good.
So that, you know, makes me forget from, you know, remembering my grandmother.
Everything, but more recently, I have two more.
Technically two more.
Carbonara.
Oh, my carbonara, like good carbonara, not watered down carbonara.
And certainly not with mushrooms or too many onions.
(19:19):
No.
Yeah.
No.
You can make carbonara right.
Man, it's so good.
And then Hawaiian plate lunch food in Stamos City.
Hawaiian plate lunch food?
Yeah.
Like Teraki chicken and Teraki beef.
My favorite food outside of my carbonara and my gruelash is Hawaiian plate lunch Teraki
(19:41):
beef.
Wow.
I could eat that for hours and even Kola pork.
And my wife makes this amazing Kola pork and we also make Kola pork sliders.
So good.
Uh-oh.
And uh, uh-oh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
By the way, which we also have usually at our anniversary parties.
We offer food sometimes.
(20:02):
I'll take that as an invitation.
Cool.
Thank you, Jimmy.
You're amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
You want to tell us about the business and anything coming off where you're located,
how they can get you?
Okay.
So we're located here in Davy, Florida, off the State Road 84 between Pine Island and
(20:23):
University.
The address is 8600 West State Road 84.
We have our sweet A, which means we're the first, we're the end cap across three from
Billy's restaurant.
If you guys, if anybody knows what that is.
Oh yeah.
My friends do.
Yeah.
We used to go there for a happy hour.
Yeah.
Way back well.
Yeah.
(20:44):
A lot of people still do actually.
So that's our main, that's our primary location right now.
And so we have lower stores.
We have our website, obviously sweetalohaisream.com.
Beautiful website.
Beautiful.
I check out everyone's website.
They're easy to navigate.
Thank you.
Still work in progress, but thank you very much.
People can find us on social media, Instagram, and sweetalohaisdaviefl to make it easy for
(21:08):
everyone.
Facebook, TikTok.
Not very good at Snapchat.
So I don't really do too much there, but it's still trying.
And then a few things like right now, Sun Sentinel is having a best ice cream shop recommendation
right now.
So if our viewers want to come and check us out and they want to nominate us, I'd really
(21:29):
appreciate that.
And I think that link is on your website.
It's on our social media account right now.
Okay.
So if I get it, I'll put it on this also.
At the end of this video, I'll put it.
I'll be outstanding.
I'm sure Sun Sentinel will be happy and I'll be certainly grateful as well.
Cool.
And then most people don't know this.
We're ranked number two in the state of Florida for 2022 out of the top ice cream shops.
(21:53):
Oh, awesome.
And last year, we ranked number 19 in the country out of the top 100 ice cream shops on Yelp.com.
And that's all customer reviews over the years.
Congratulations.
I mean, you should be so proud.
From the people.
Yep.
Yeah.
So, you know, our employees do a tremendous job of providing great service, but the customers
(22:17):
have to acknowledge that somehow and usually Yelp and Google reviews is the way to do it.
So we're really thankful for that.
Cool.
Other than that, we love to spread the aloha.
So we're always looking for opportunities to engage and engage with our communities.
We do a lot of sponsorships.
I was going to say, do you any catering or like all the premise stuff?
(22:38):
Correct.
Yeah.
We do catering off premise with the Shave Ice.
We can do the ice cream.
Right now we have little party packs basically that we sell.
Pretty scooped, ordered ice cream.
Matter of fact, we sponsor one of the local schools and they do an end of the year, fifth
grade party every year and we prepare 200 scoops every year for the graduating class.
(22:59):
Pretty awesome.
So we have all that capability as well.
Okay, cool.
How are you?
I'm good.
Yeah.
I'm sure the community loves you and whoever didn't know you in the community, they get
to know you now.
Yeah.
We're looking forward to meeting everyone.
Everyone.
Oh, absolutely.
I can see why.
You have so much love to give.
That's right.
(23:20):
Yeah.
We can try some of it.
We can try some of the Loja here.
We can try some of the Loja.
We can try some of the Loja.
Yeah.
Awesome.
As always, enjoy and we'll see you there.
Bye.
Bye.
Loja.
Loja.
I'm your ice cream man, style me when I'm passing by.
(23:54):
See now all my flavors again to satisfy.
Hold on one more.
Well, I'm usually passing by just about 11 o'clock.
I'd never stop.
I'm usually passing by just around 11 o'clock.
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