THE FROSTY FROG CAFÉ Celebrating
20 YEARS of Food and Frosty Goodness
BY RISA WILLIAMS MCMILLAN
16
TASTEOFHILTONHEAD.COM
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PHOTOS BY ROB KAUFMAN
It was twenty years ago when the Frosty Frog found its niche in the corner of Coligny Plaza and it has been churning out smiles, frosty frozen drinks, and delicious food ever since. You could say they have become one big frog family over the years with their staff and customers. In fact, you could say at the Frosty Frog it is ALL about family – honoring theirs and catering to yours. So Happy Birthday Frosty Frog! Thank you for sharing 20 years of fabulous food, frothy drinks, and fond memories. The Frosty Frog was started by Patrick Taylor and his wife, Angie. As the story goes, Pat hailed from frigid Erie, PA which has an annual snowfall of around 9 feet. With a warmer climate in mind, Pat frog leaped his way to Charlotte and while he did not bring the weather, he did bring frost in the form of his drinks and whipped up tasty frozen treats for the pleasure of all. After a few years of pleasing many a palate, Pat and Angie decided that they needed to make one more puddle jump to the south in search of water. Enter Hilton Head – a place where the climate craves refreshment and the beaches beckon families from far and near. Thus the Frosty Frog came to fruition lo these many moons ago and has conquered the test of time. If the frogs on the walls could talk, they would tell of many changes and expansions over the past twenty years. When they first started out, Frosty Frog was comprised of a small dining section with five tables and a bar with 9 frozen drinks. Pat spent countless hours a day in the kitchen and Angie worked the bar. “Back then the bartender, cook, and server were often the same person,” explained Shaun Brockway, general manager of the Frog and a member of the team since day one. Fast forward to present day when they have 100 employees running shifts during the summer. Through the acquisition of two adjacent properties, their seating capacity also exploded from 30 to over 300 and they now serve dozens of different flavors of frozen drinks. “At the beginning we had to be ‘late night’ to survive. It was dark and smoky and we were thought of as more like a bar. We always wanted to be a family place and now we have accomplished that,” Shaun added. They made their message clear about being kid-friendly when they built their attractive outdoor beach area complete with lounge chairs and soothing tunes. They also expanded their kitchen capacity with a steamer for crab legs and shrimp and a pizza oven. “People can come here and get it all. Mom wants a salad and dad wants crab and the kids want pizza. For that reason alone, families will come here three times a week. They ask their kids where they want to go and they say ‘Frosty Frog’. Our menu is one of the island most extensive – salads, wraps, seafood, burgers, pizza. You don’t need an excuse to go anywhere else. If the kids are happy, then mom and dad are happy,” said Shaun. Everything at Frosty Frog spells longevity. It’s a testament to their staying power that the employees have