TASTY COCONUT or red sno-cone can hit the spot on a sweltering day and 29-year-old vendor Keisha Moore knows this all too well.
So too, do her many customers, some of whom she paused to serve during our interview on a rather warm day in The City. The temperature seemed to be in the 30s that afternoon.
“Which one do you want, love?” she asked patiently as she deftly placed the ice in the cup and waited on the customer to indicate which flavour he wanted.
Her story is interesting because people often don’t view a sno-cone vendor as a business person, one who has costs and inputs, good and bad days, and stiff competition.
“I started selling sno-cones 11 years ago because I got laid off from a store. My uncle, who passed away, used to sell sno-cones from this spot here in Swan Street for 38 or 39 years, so I picked up from him, I was working with a sno-cone man, McDonald Kirton, before, and seeing the cash that he was getting and how they sold, I said I wanted to get involved. I worked with him and then I took the profits I made and got started on my own,” she told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
It was Kirton and her dad who helped her get the cart together and although her first sale day was slow, Moore said sales increased as more people got to know her.
“When I first started, I only had coconut, red, orange, blue and pineapple, the popular flavours, but after seeing the other fellas having tamarind I started selling it and continued with the ginger,” she said.
“I make my syrups myself with sugar, hard spices and other spices, nutmeg, bay leaf, I boil them. I grate the coconut and flavour it with essence and add coconut milk. The most popular flavours are coconut, red, orange and tamarind.
She added: “I try to make my syrups taste good and once they’re sweet and nice I don’t have to worry because they will sell. I sell at least 85 or 100 cups a day. Sometimes you sell more, sometimes less. When it rains, a lot [of sno-cones] don’t sell.”
Each morning, Moore journeys to Sobers Lane in Bridgetown and collects her ice, either 65 or 75 pounds, “depending on which day it is”. “I come here and start working at 11 a.m. and end around 5:30 or 6:30 p.m.”
If the ice is not used, she has to dump it and buy a fresh batch the following morning. Lamenting the seven cents increase in the cost of this main input, Moore noted that “you get out” when selling the icy treats at Crop Over despite the other vendors.
While she has plans to own an additional cart, a van, and hire people to work for her, Moore said before she does this her current branded cart needed repairs, including a paint job.
“When I left school, I didn’t think I would be selling sno-cones but now I’m doing much better. I’m making more money now than I did working at the store. If you’re selling sno-cones to make a living, you can’t give up,” Moore said. (Green Bananas Media)