ATHASBASCA – A small business servicing in Athabasca is becoming a popular commodity this summer.
Tropical Chill Snow Cones, a food truck business that started up last year but didn’t become registered until 2025, has been selling snow cones, lemonade, and iced coffee as a way to keep people cool this summer.
Caleb Hunter, owner of the business explained that his wife Juleah, who had a snow cone stand of her own in Mayo, Florida, came to him on April Fool’s Day last year and said that she wanted to do something for the farmers market in town.
“We started picking apart what we would need for the business. April 1, we started planning and by the end of April, we had a fully functional business,” Hunter said. “We had all our AHS papers sorted out and we were ready to go, and we just went.”
Tropical Chill Snow Cones has sold flavours like blue raspberry, cherry, and even cotton candy at some big events this year including the Top Gun Horse Sale in Ponoka, the River Rats Festival in Athabasca and the Wildberry Festival in Boyle. They have also been to farmers markets in Boyle and Athabasca as well as birthday parties, rodeos and carnivals.
In 2024, the business made 2,240 snow cones and they were also able to sell 330 lemonades. At the time, Caleb and his wife were working with a 10-by-10-foot tent, but they wanted to expand the company.
“We agreed that if we didn’t have a truck by Jan. 1, then the Lord wasn’t calling us to do it. We prayed quite a bit about it and sure enough, we found this minibus, finalized the purchase on Dec. 31 and drove it home that evening and we began building on,” Hunter said
January to April was Caleb and Juleah’s build period. They did a taste testing night for friends on April 5 and then hit the road. Since that day, Tropical Chill Snow Cones has sold over 5,000 snow cones, more than double what they made in 2024.
“We didn’t really expect this sort of wave of popularity that we got especially here in Athabasca so next year we will continue to grow through some large events going throughout the course of Alberta,” Hunter said.
