KAWAIHAE — The multi-flavored, rainbow-colored frozen icon of Hawaii’s modern food culture all started with the arrival of one essential ingredient: ice. Since it first came by ship in 1850, the coolest treat in Hawaii has evolved from 1,400-year-old Japanese “kokigori” to a local food tradition updated for today.
Reggie Ignacio and his family are proud, second and third-generation shave ice entrepreneurs and owners of the Original Big Island Shave Ice Company. On any given day, the bold turquoise food truck situated in the Blue Dragon restaurant parking lot in Kawaihae has a long line of customers from down the road and around the world.
It all started when Reggie’s mother, Lorraine Berdon, began selling shave ice in 1957 — the first in West Hawaii as far as anybody knows.
“She was 18 years old, very young,” said Ignacio. “She started off going into the camps on the Hamakua Coast, from Kohala to Kukaiau, as Waimea Home to Home Market. Meat, fish, candy — it was like a traveling grocery store — and shave ice also.”
Born and raised in Kawaihae, with family members in Waimea, Kona and around the island, Lorraine soon became known as the “Shave Ice Lady.” In the 1960s, she found a more permanent place in Spencer Beach Park and started selling hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, plate lunches, ice cream and shave ice from Lorraine’s Snackmobile.
“We would all have to go help Mom at Spencer Beach Park,” said Ignacio, who was about 10 years old at the time. “We would go swimming with our friends. My dad is Filipino and he bought this horn in the Philippines. We called the crazy horn, and when he blew it we had to come out of the water and do shave ice for the lunch rush.”
When he graduated from high school, Ignacio worked for a few years at Waikoloa Beach Resort Golf, next in the family business for about a year and then started his own company, Waimea Trucking Company, in 1988. Years later, when his son-in-law was playing football for the University of Hawaii, the family would go and watch their home games.
“Their apartment was across the street from Waiola Shave Ice,” said Ignacio. “My wife Kim would go try Matsumoto’s and different shave ice shops on Oahu. I automatically knew my mom’s product was better.”
Although he wasn’t up for it at first, Ignacio agreed to start a shave ice shop if his family would commit to help. And they did.
“In 2013, we started to rework some recipes,” he said. “Her’s were old school; she cooked her own syrup. We wanted to bring back the old school way.”
They also started a natural food line, testing recipes for homemade fresh fruit syrups with less sugar, and flavors like guava, pickled mango, lemon peel, passion fruit and li hing mui.
“This is how it all started,” said Ignacio. “We created this product from old techniques. That’s what separates us, my mom’s techniques that we refined.”
It didn’t take long for word to spread.
“People reached out; they wanted to do stories,” he said. “We did ‘Living 808’ with Trini Kaopuiki of KHON, and named a sundae after her. It kind of got us busier local-wise. Then this HPA student, Jordan Virtue, approached me. She was selected to do a story for The Washington Post. Then, other newspapers were grabbing it and creating their own headlines; people were coming to us and bringing the articles. It was pretty crazy.”
Chicago Tribune and Vogue were among other national and international media outlets who covered the Original Big Island Shave Ice Company.
Last month, they added a second, larger truck, and are able to expand, taking on more catering events, festivals and private functions. The family is talking about a Hilo location, and possible franchise opportunities.
Meanwhile, every day, hundreds of happy shave ice aficionados walk away from the window with colorful cups heaped with purple halo halo, shiny Rainbow, POG, Blue Hawaii, or drizzly Trini Chantilly, slurped up with long spoon straws in the Kawaihae sun. And big smiles.
Info: www.obisic.com or Original Big Island Shave Ice Co, Inc. on Facebook