Icy Cool

If you grew up in suburban Canada over the last 50 years, chances are you can remember a time or two sipping on slushies, and maybe even a little bout of brain freeze that came with the experience.

WHETHER YOU WERE COOLING down on a scorching summer day or sipping the flavour of the week as you walked home from the neighbourhood convenience store, slushies were (and still are!) a tasty treat.

You’ve grown up since then, but guess what? So have slushies. Sure, they’re still icy cool blended drinks, but while old school slushies came in the usual array of fruit flavours, today’s version knows no limits and no rules – other than they have to taste great. And if you’re marketing on Instagram, they should look great too.

The first evolution was the cocktail. Frozen daiquiris and margaritas have been around almost as long as the convenience store slushie. Today, you can reimagine any cocktail as a slushie. Martini? Sure. Sangria? Why not? And you can reinterpret classic frozen cocktails with creative fruit flavours. Cantaloupe daiquiri? Papaya colada? Now you’re talking. Or you can try truly inventive flavours – spicy cucumber mojito, anyone?

And for those who prefer the non-alcoholic approach, try a frozen lemonade slushie with water, sugar, lemons, and a little coconut milk for texture. Or a frozen treat that takes you all the way back to the ice cream truck: a vegan Creamsicleinspired slushie made with oranges and vanilla-flavoured coconut milk.

The one ingredient that is indispensable to all these recipes, of course, is ice. Typically, we don’t think of ice as an ingredient. After all, anyone can fill up a tray with water and stash it in the freezer for perfect ice cubes every time. But in the restaurant world, where time is always of the essence, ice-making became one of the first automated tasks, a restaurant must-have. You buy an ice machine and then you never have to think about ice again, right?

Not exactly, says Jeffrey Biel, Vice President, Marketing and Product Development at Scotsman Ice Systems.

The ice machine is the equipment that is often forgotten about. Everything is fine until there’s no ice, and then suddenly, there’s a mad scramble.

Local service technicians may not be able to respond immediately with the right parts. So, while ice machines are built to last 10 to 15 years, when one goes down, it can take your entire restaurant with it –at least for a few days. Because let’s be honest, not many customers will want to pair their meal with a nice warm beverage that was meant to be served cold.

Scotsman addressed the problem with the recently released Prodigy Elite, a new ice machine with built-in Bluetooth technology and access to a service app for instant answers when your machine goes down. “It makes the operation of the machine much more intuitive, and it helps with troubleshooting and maximizing your uptime,” Biel says. It’s currently available for cube-style ice machines, with versions for nugget and flake ice machines coming soon.

He adds that most ice machines aren’t maintained as often as they should be, but the Prodigy Elite reminds you when it’s time to clean your machine and guides you through the cleaning process.

“You’re going to have to buy an ice machine anyway. The best way to maximize that investment is to get one that will help you make it last longer.”

It’s important to realize that when you make an investment, it’s in your restaurant’s best interest to maintain what you’ve invested in, otherwise it will become a waste. With a little attention to detail, you’ll be sure to stay cool in the eyes of your customers and you’ll protect your investment while doing it.