Bristol’s Shave Ice!

Bristol’s Shave Ice began in 2020 during the worst time of COVID-19. My wife, Kimberlie and I with our eight children, Savanna 12, Daxton 10, Corbon 8, Kendra 6, Bristol 4, Michael 4, Bryler 2, and Miley 1 month were stationed on Eielson AFB, Alaska. I am an active-duty service member for the United States Air Force and Eielson AFB, Alaska was our second duty station. COVID-19 brought everything to a halt in most communities and Eielson AFB was no different. I could not go to work, and the kids had to stay home from school. Our oldest daughter Savanna wanted a way to earn some money and came up with the idea to sale shave ice using our one machine that we had for personal use. She started with a folding table and a few flavors in front of our home selling a red solo cup of shave ice for $1. She started off slow but the more she kept at it she was able to quickly grow her small business. Her customers loved the shave ice and started spreading good comments on Facebook. Her shave ice became so popular that she was soon shut down for not having a business license and state health permit. It took me a week, but I was able get all of the proper paperwork she needed and she was back open. Only this time she had my wife and I’s full support. We bought another machine so she could become more efficient and serve shave ice at a much faster rate to try to keep up with the demand. She recruited the rest of us, and it quickly became a family affair. We set up in front of our home a few times a week in the evenings and spent 3 hours serving the community of Eielson AFB. Our kids learned so much that year about running a business and the importance of hard work. They learned about saving money, customer service, teamwork and so much more. Our shave ice adventure was only getting started though.