Italian water ice is having a moment. Once found mainly in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, this sublime summer treat is becoming popular all over the country. Never had one? Try mango water ice swirled with vanilla custard. First, you taste the rich and velvety frozen custard; then, just when you think you can’t eat any more, your spoon breaks through to an icy oasis of fine-textured, flavored ice.
When Rob and Paulette Lamb, both Philadelphia natives, visited Richmond one blazing August, they noticed one big thing missing from this Southern city. “If we’re going to move here, there’s got to be water ice!” they joked. Then they realized they had found the perfect business opportunity. In 2005, they opened Ray’s Italian Water Ice, and now have two thriving Richmond locations. Here’s how they succeeded.
They put a Southern spin on a Northern treat.
In Philadelphia’s mom-and-pop water ice shops, the options are usually limited to half a dozen flavors of ice and a few flavors of custard. That’s what the Lambs offered, too. But Richmonders, they soon discovered, expected more variety. So the Lambs listened. They introduced hand-scooped custard in exotic flavors like crème brulee and horchata, as well as Freezies (Italian ice blended with custard) and Rockslides (custard blended with candy or cookie pieces). That’s not mentioning the ice flavors (we’ll get there in a second). The result, Paulette says, is that Ray’s is “sort of a hybrid. It’s a little bit of north and a little bit of here.”
They never stop experimenting.
After 11 years, you might think Ray’s would settle on a standard list of water ice flavors. You’d be wrong. Not only does the menu change daily, with a rotating assortment of around 70 flavors, but Rob continues to invent and test new ones.
His soda flavors, made with real soda syrup, are popular. Think Fanta Grape, or Dr. Pepper. Another huge hit was the Jolly Rancher fruit punch flavor, made with — what else? — Jolly Ranchers. It takes 2,000 melted candies to make a single batch of water ice.
Of course, not every flavor experiment is a success. Jelly Belly buttered popcorn was “not a good flavor in water ice,” Paulette says. The top sellers are cherry, mango and lemon, all made with real fruit.
They know their ideal customer.
Kids love water ice. Rob Lamb remembers scrounging for change in the couch cushions so he could run down the street and buy one. The Lambs deliberately placed their first store in a small shopping center surrounded by neighborhoods, so that kids and families could walk or bike over and buy themselves a treat.
It worked. Kids who once arrived in strollers are now driving to Ray’s. High schoolers have planned their prom proposals there, getting staff to write “Will you go to prom with me?” on the Colossal Cookie. The Lambs created a signature custard in the colors of nearby Deep Run High School — blue-colored vanilla custard with crumbled Oreos. It was so popular that rival Godwin High School demanded its own custard: red-colored vanilla with sugar-cookie dough and chocolate sprinkles.
The entire family has their hands in the business.
“We make everything in house. And we make everything from scratch,” Paulette explains. She oversees all the baking, whether baklava or lemon bars, and the custard. Rob is in charge of making the water ice, which gets its smooth, fine texture from a precise cycle of freezing and scraping. Their son, Zach, works on the business side. Daughters Zoe and Zen help too, and Paulette’s mom runs product from store to store. “I think our biggest challenge is always – it’s really really important to us to have a really consistent, really high-quality product,” Paulette says, and the only way to do that is to be on site, all the time.
They chose the right equipment.
When the Lambs first opened Ray’s, they used a traditional shake machine to mix their Freezies and Rockslides. Then they switched to the Mix ‘n Chill Drink Mixer from Hamilton Beach Commercial, which proved ideal. “It is the absolute perfect machine for us,” Paulette says, because employees can blend in the cup. “Once we realized we could do that, it opened up a new world.” The round-bladed spindle is safer, there’s less splashing and the mixing process is faster. They’re still using the first Mix ‘n Chill they bought – it’s “12 years old and still going like a champ,” Paulette says.
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