Friends to offer ‘signature Philadelphia frozen treat’ at new Macon store

Four friends are opening up a spot at The Shoppes at River Crossing to serve up a frozen treat that’s iconic in one of their hometowns

Macon Water Ice is targeted to open next month at 5080 Riverside Drive, Suite 208. An opening date has not been set yet.

“Water ice is a signature Philadelphia frozen treat,” said co-owner Andre Roberts, a Philadelphia native. “Our water ice is a premium grade of Italian ice which contains no dairy. It is gluten and cholesterol free.”

Water ice is not a slushy, sorbet or granita.

It’s also not a snow cone, which is shaved ice with syrup poured on top, Roberts said. Water ice has the flavor mixed in before it’s frozen, while snow cones have the flavor added to it after the ice is frozen.

Water ice is made from a mix of water, sugar and flavoring, and it’s creamier than Italian ice bought in the store.

“We have a long list of flavors — about 28,” Roberts said.

A few of those flavors are pina colada, tropical rainbow, strawberry, watermelon, coconut and blackberry.

Started out at festivals

In Philadelphia, the treat is “a pretty big deal especially in the summertime.”

“Different parts of the city have different types,” Roberts said.

Rita’s and Fred’s Water Ice immediately came to his mind as he talked about the popularity of the treat in Philadelphia.

“I decided to bring it down here with some of my friends,” said Roberts, who moved to Macon in 2007 to be near his mom.

“I’ve actually taken them up to Philadelphia with me and they tried it,” Roberts said. “It just clicked … I wish we had it in Macon.”

Macon Water Ice was formed in 2016. The other co-owners are Jesse Ussery, Antwan Andrews and Delvin Montford.

The company is not a franchise.

“This is all us from the ground up,” Roberts said.

The friends started out offering the frozen concoction for sale at festivals and events.

Their first was the Pan African Festival in Macon.

With success with their tent sales, they decided to open a shop. But they had to delay their plans a bit.

“This pandemic hasn’t helped at all,” Roberts said. “We were actually shooting for last year, but we pushed everything back to a little bit further to make sure we had time to get through everything.

“We wanted to make sure we had all the safety concerns in place before we opened up ... And the economy slowed down, especially here … where we’re going to be opening up at River Crossing. They had shut down for a little while and changed their hours up. So, we just wanted to make sure that we had everything in line before we opened up.”

They’re hoping to introduce more people to water ice.

“We were just looking for a space where we could touch more people … We were looking at some downtown locations, but this one opened up first for us to take,” Roberts said.

“After we get this one rolling, we’re thinking about opening one downtown as well.”

‘Pretty crazy flavors’

One aspect that makes water ice stand out from other frozen treats is that it’s a non-dairy option.

“A lot of people can’t do dairy,” he said. “We have a treat that a lot of people can eat that’s not a ton of sugar. The kids also love it.”

In addition to water ice, the shop also offers some “pretty crazy flavors” of lemonade — including sour apple, cotton candy and bubble gum.

“Nothing just regular,” he said “ We have pretty crazy flavors for everything.”

While they’re still working on pricing for the shop, generally, the lemonades are $3 and water ice ranges from $5 to $15 based on serving size.

They also have gallon buckets of water ice are for $25. They’re great for birthday parties and can feed about 10 to 12 young children, Roberts said.

Their most popular offerings at festivals are their pineapples filled with water ice.

“We get pineapples. We hull ‘em out. We do leave some of the actual pineapple inside for you to eat after the water ice. But then we just top it off with the water ice coming up,” Roberts said.

Roberts expects to work full-time at the shop, hiring two to three employees with his partners coming in and out to help.

Once they’ve ready, Roberts said they’ll put out an opening date.

Right now, they’re firming up their menu, awaiting the delivery of the shop sign and are in the process of obtaining their food-service permit from the Georgia Department of Health.

“We’re shooting for one day in March,” Roberts said. “We wanted to make sure we had everything done first before we put a date out.”

He expects Macon Water Ice to mirror the hours of The Shoppes at River Crossing, which currently are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The shop’s number is 478-390-6787

This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.