Dessert News

Dallas shaved ice stand resorts to mobile measures to stay afloat

Really, all it takes is a cute picture and we'll write a story.

Photo by Snowbaby

Businesses everywhere have been impacted by COVID-19, and that includes Snowbaby, a Lakewood shop that specializes in creamy shaved ice.

According to owner Chrissy Kuo, foot traffic at the store dwindled to nothing and catering jobs were canceled.

She did briefly followed the example set by many restaurants who were offering delivery, pick-up, and takeout, but abandoned it after a few weeks, and decided to "go mobile" instead.

She searched on craigslist and ebay, before finding a used snow cone trailer on Facebook, which she has cleaned and "branded," aka "painted," to make the trailer ready to sell shaved ice.

The Snowbaby-mobile is a basically a mini Snowbaby store. It features the most popular and seasonal snows, toppings, and drizzles. Snowbaby's snows flavors are made with fresh ingredients and no artificial coloring, flavoring, sweeteners, or high-fructose corn syrups.

Toppings are sourced locally when possible, and their rainbow sprinkles are naturally colored with fruit and vegetable juices.

The Snowbaby-mobile is shaved ice only. It does not sell fruit teas or bubble waffles that are available at the store.

Seasonal snow flavors for summer include lemonade, made with lemon juice; pineapple, made with ground pineapples; and key lime, made with fresh lime juice.

Party packages can be ordred on their website and begin at $150.

desserts ice-cream

McDonald's News

McDonald's closes 2 CosMc's beverage spinoffs in Dallas-Fort Worth

Photo courtesy of CosMc's

undefined

After less than a year, McDonald's is cutting back on its CosMc's beverage spinoff, and that includes shutting down locations in Dallas-Fort Worth.

McDonald's introduced the beverage led concept in December 2023, when it opened the first location in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The concept — which seemed to be competing with Swig, the drive-through drink chain from Utah — features coffee, lemonade, slushies, and energy drinks, plus bites such as the Egg McMuffin, hashbrowns, and McPops — like doughnut holes.

They went on to open six more locations, all in Texas: two in San Antonio and four in DFW. Both San Antonio locations still show up on the website as open but two have closed in DFW so far, as follows:

Watauga at 7304 Denton Hwy.
Arlington at Abram's Alley, 300 E. Abram St. #150

Their website currently shows the Dallas location at Campbell Road, which was the original location, as still open, as well as a location in Fort Worth on McPherson Boulevard.

Despite the closures, McDonald's still plans to continue the test in the US for the foreseeable future, a spokesperson says, including opening two new smaller format stores in Texas in 2025.

That includes a location in Allen at 861 W. Stacy Rd.

The plan is to close three of the larger locations that were remodeled into CosMc’s locations — meaning that one of the locations currently still open is due to close.

"Since opening CosMc’s, we have had the benefit of testing out different location sizes and setups – from revamping larger restaurant spaces to building smaller prototype locations that focus more on the drive-thru and digital experience," their statement says. "We learned that the smaller format stores allow us to test new, unique circumstances that are reflective of our customer base. As a result, we will open two new smaller format stores in Texas in 2025, and close three of the larger locations that were remodeled into CosMc’s locations."