Jack Hicks stands with the Sunset Slush cart outside of Boone's Town Hall.
During the summer season, when the sun beats unforgivably down and everyone’s sweating buckets, the only thing people want is a nice, refreshing treat. Luckily for the residents of Boone, Jack Hicks and his family have a solution to the summer blues: Italian ice!
“My family goes to a beach in Georgia, Saint Simons Island, and Sunset Slush has a storefront down there,” junior Jack Hicks explained. “We go on vacation there a lot, so we decided to do a little research into their company and brand. On their website, they said you can purchase a cart and start something like a franchise location. A couple years ago, we started kicking around the idea to start a location in the High Country. Me, my mom, and my dad talked a lot about it, and just this last summer, we decided to give it a shot.”
Over the winter, the Hicks family got the cart, the freezer for storing the flavors, and a trailer so they could pull the cart around.
“Once we had everything, we set up in late April, the week of Spring Break,” Hicks said. “It was our first time setting up, and we set up in Downtown Boone next to Town Hall. It was really good right from the start. It took off a lot more than we expected. It was awesome, and we had a lot of fun with it. We worked it for most of the summer, mostly in Downtown Boone. We also cater, so we’ve been all over the state and gotten our name out there.”
For anyone already gearing up for next summer and hoping to get a sweet treat to cool off during the heat of the day, Hicks has good news.
“Judging by how successful the business was this year, I’m seriously considering continuing it next year,” he said. “I might be getting another cart, just to increase business and coverage.”
Sunset Slush has plenty of flavors to offer, and enough out-of-the-ordinary ones to satisfy anyone’s cravings.
“We’ve got thirty to thirty-five flavors, something like that. That’s been one of the most fun parts of it, getting all the flavors and seeing which ones go really well together for swirls,” said Hicks. “We like to keep statistics on which flavors do best during which seasons. The parent company comes out with new flavors every once in a while too.”
Hicks and his family have some big plans for Sunset Slush High Country going forward.
“We’ve been thinking about maybe getting a storefront somewhere in Boone next year or the year after that. The business has really taken off, so we’re looking for more opportunities to expand and grow the business,” Hicks said. “We’ve had a lot of success, and I’m glad we decided to start up a Sunset Slush branch in Boone.”
Thanks to the Hicks and their Sunset Slush cart, the summer sun isn’t as rough anymore. Now everyone in Boone can have a tasty summer sweet to take the edge off the heat!
Comments