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Lemeir Mitchell: Philadelphia water ice is very important
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to the city of Philadelphia.
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It's probably more important
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than cheese sticks to me.
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Customer: This is bomb. Ridiculously bomb.
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And it's ridiculously refreshing
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when it's 100 degrees outside.
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Good job, Happy Ice.
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Frenchy: What's up, guys? Frenchy here,
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on probably one of the hottest days in Los Angeles,
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but it's fine, because today we're gonna try Happy Ice.
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Lemeir: Imagine if shaved ice, sorbet, and ice cream
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came together to make one flavor,
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or one amazing product.
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It would create Happy Ice.
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Ted Foxman: Happy Ice is a very easy experience
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compared to Italian ice.
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So, when I had it for the first time,
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I was super shocked that my spoon
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had just cut right through it
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like I was eating an ice cream.
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The texture in my mouth was creamy
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and rich, like ice cream.
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Lemeir: I would say our top flavors are
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Cherry Bomb,
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our Strawberry Lemon Lush,
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Pineapple Potion,
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Blueberry Blast,
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Mango Madness,
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Lucky Lemon.
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We have a bunch of fun flavors
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where you're able to choose a combination,
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put it inside a cup, and we can make a rainbow
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out of any selection of flavors that you make.
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Lauren DePino: Happy Ice was the perfect thing
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on a hot LA day. And being from Philly,
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I'd really craved a water ice,
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or, as I called it, "wodder ice,"
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and I told my stepson about it, and he's like,
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"What? What is that?"
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And thought it might be gelato or ice cream.
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My fiancé looked it up and found Happy Ice,
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so we just rode our bikes there.
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Lemeir: Because it has the creamy texture
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of ice cream, fruity flavors of sorbet,
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but refreshing like shaved ice
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and is vegan-friendly, dairy-free,
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and we make it in-house.
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You make it the same way you make ice cream.
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So it's like that little extra ingredients
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that changes the texture.
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And also I have a authentic
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Philadelphia water ice recipe.
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It's a secret recipe.
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And also it's, like, really just
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in the inner city of Philadelphia.
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A lot of people don't go there to try and figure out
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how to make that product.
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So, me just being from where I'm from,
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and I learned from being a family friend,
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I was able to get the recipe,
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and then also I'm a artist, so I saw the vision
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of how, you know, I can deliver that to the world.
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Frenchy: This is real sweat, people. [laughs]
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Just come on. Let's go.
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Hopefully I don't melt before I get inside. [laughs]
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She got hers.
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[woman cheering] [Frenchy laughs]
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Lemeir: I started visiting LA about, like, five years ago.
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So, during that time I was traveling back and forth,
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and my brother actually passed away
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in a motorcycle accident.
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And I was telling him, like, "Bro, I love it.
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I want to go out there and try and chase my dream."
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So when he passed away, I actually,
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you know, I went for it.
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Yeah, I started off as a tattoo artist,
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and during that time of me tattooing on Melrose,
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I learned about the food truck culture,
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and I saw that it was a more affordable way
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to bring a piece of my hometown here.
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So, you know, I called my mom about the idea.
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She loved it. She supported me the whole way.
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And September 4th of 2017,
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Happy Ice was open with this first truck.
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Oh, man. Man, what.
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It was, it was super tough.
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Whoo. Trying to introduce
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Happy Ice to Los Angeles was super hard.
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We had, like, wow factors
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and stuff that would make people get excited.
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We started to catch,
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then we started to get celebrities to come.
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And, man, today, it's amazing to see
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the awareness for the brand and the product
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has grown so much from when we first started,
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'cause it was not easy. [laughs]
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Brooke Murray: My first time going to Happy Ice
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was about a month or so ago.
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If I came across anything that looks
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remotely close to water ice,
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it's going to catch my attention,
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because I am from Philadelphia.
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Water ice in Philadelphia is like...
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it's like water. You grow up with it.
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There's water ice places on every corner.
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Rita's is popular, but everyone maybe
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has their own neighborhood spot.
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Lemeir: There's not a part of my childhood
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where water ice isn't inside of it.
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As soon as the summertime will hit,
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your mindset automatically jumped into water ice mode.
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So that's why, when I came out here
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and we didn't have it, and there's heat all the time,
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I was like, man,
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they gotta experience what I experienced growing up.
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Cashier: Hey! Frenchy: How you doing?
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Cashier: You a first timer or a happy camper?
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Frenchy: I'm a first timer.
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Cashier: All right, we got a first timer!
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Crowd: Hey!
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Frenchy: [laughs] What's up? Cashier: Welcome!
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So, you can go ahead and choose any three flavors
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to customize your own cup,
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or go with one of our combinations below.
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We have our Time Machine, All Star,
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and our famous Rainbow Rocket.
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Frenchy: Famous Rainbow Rocket?
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Let's go with the Rainbow Rocket.
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Cashier: What size for you?
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Frenchy: The largest. It's hot outside! Let's do it.
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Brooke: It's nostalgia. It just makes you happy.
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And right now, refreshing above all.
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I said water ice, but
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my every urge is "wooder ice."
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Lemeir: It's crazy, because people say
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that people from Philadelphia kind of have a accent
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and they can kinda hear a accent in me
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when I say water. So, [laughs]
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so when we say water ice,
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it's kind of like you're saying
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"wood" with a -er at the end,
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so like "wooder ice." [laughs]
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It's crazy. I didn't know I had a accent,
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but everybody seems to say I have one.
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Ted: I was with my daughter. Not unlike a day like today,
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it was, like, 98 degrees outside.
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And somebody was walking that direction where we were
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with what I found out later was Happy Ice.
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So I said, "Come on, everybody,
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let's go get one of those, because that looks great."
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Lemeir: So, with him being behind me,
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we were able to actually jump to the opportunity
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of getting our storefront.
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Frenchy: Decided to get the Rainbow Rocket,
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and just holding it, I'm already cooling down.
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I'm super excited to try it.
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Of course, as you can see, all the colors,
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keeping it super-duper friendly
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and super-duper happy.
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I mean, I guess that's why they call it Happy Ice.
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As I'm eating this, I'm absolutely cooling down.
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It's the perfect thing to get
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on a super-duper hot day in Los Angeles.
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I promise you, if it looks good on video,
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then you definitely want to try it for yourself.
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Brooke: Happy Ice definitely feels more authentic
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kind of because I didn't know it was coming.
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It was, like, such a pleasant surprise.
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And in the middle of a pandemic,
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it was like a taste of home
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that was very necessary
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for anyone who can't make it home.
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Frenchy: This is good.
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It's very flavorful, and all the colors
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absolutely represent different flavors.
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So, this is good stuff, people.
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The blue tastes like blueberry.
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The red tastes like cherry.
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Every bite is absolutely flavorful.
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Trust me, you want this.
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Oh, yeah. We going to work on this.
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Ted: I would say we're probably
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somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000
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people a month right now that we're serving.
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Brooke: It's this thing that triggers nostalgia
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and just, I mean, I don't wanna be corny,
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but happiness.
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It just really, that's what it was for me.