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