Mary Mack’s 2024: Hawaiian Shaved Ice®, Cotton Candy Express® and Scoot® Frozen Lemonade
DeliveryRank has the pleasure of chatting with Dustin Keipper, COO at Mary Mack's, a leading manufacturer of shaved ice and snow cone syrup. With a strong background in overseeing production and logistics, Dustin plays a key role in ensuring the company’s North Carolina facility runs smoothly, maintaining the high standards that have earned Mary Mack's national recognition and accolades like The Wall Street Journal's "Best Overall" award. His dedication to efficiency and quality helps uphold the company's reputation for exceptional products and customer service.
Mary Mack's started as a small shaved ice stand and has now grown into the leading manufacturer of shaved ice and snow cone syrup. What were the key challenges and turning points that helped the business scale from a local stand to a national brand?
The journey from a small shaved ice stand to developing a national brand, Hawaiian Shaved Ice, came with its share of challenges. Every hurdle played a crucial role in shaping Mary Mack's into what it is today. In the early stages, we faced a steep learning curve—building a recognizable brand, developing a website, assembling the right team, streamlining processes, and identifying our ideal customers. Each step required patience, creativity, and a willingness to adapt, laying the foundation for the success we enjoy today.
Key turning points came when we embraced innovation at critical moments—investing in production technologies and expanding into e-commerce just as online retail was gaining momentum. These strategic moves allowed us to reach a national audience while staying true to the essence of Hawaiian Shaved Ice syrups, the same flavors and quality our earliest customers fell in love with.
Expanding our distribution posed another challenge. Moving beyond online sales meant building a specialized team to get our products into brick-and-mortar stores. We quickly learned it wasn’t just about shipping syrup; it required entirely new sales and operational strategies, learning the complexities of retail, and ensuring our products arrived in perfect condition. No matter where customers purchased, we were committed to delivering the same great experience.
Above all, our commitment to customer feedback has been instrumental. As we grew, we listened closely to customer needs, refining our offerings and staying ahead of market trends, ensuring that Mary Mack’s continues to delight fans nationwide.
Hawaiian Shaved Ice has been recognized with several accolades, including "Best Overall" by The Wall Street Journal. What sets your syrups and products apart from competitors in terms of quality and customer experience?
At Hawaiian Shaved Ice, what truly sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to quality and delivering an exceptional customer experience. From the start, we’ve prioritized using only premium ingredients, ensuring our syrups have rich, authentic flavors that stand out. We never cut corners—our goal is to create flavors that bring joy from the moment it hits your mouth, whether it’s classic favorites or tropical blends that capture the spirit of Hawaiian Shaved Ice.
Beyond quality, our focus on customer experience has been key. We design our products to be easy to use, whether you're an at-home enthusiast or a business serving large crowds. Our kits, syrups, and machines are crafted with the customer in mind, making it easy to recreate that perfect shaved ice experience anytime, anywhere.
Ultimately, it’s our dedication to consistency, innovation, and customer satisfaction that has earned us accolades like 'Best Overall' from The Wall Street Journal and helped us stand out in a competitive market.
In addition to syrups, your company offers a variety of concession products like cotton candy and frozen lemonade in a pouch. How do you ensure that the quality of these products matches the high standards of your shaved ice syrups?
Consistency and quality are at the core of everything we do, whether it’s our syrups or products from our other brands, Cotton Candy Express or Scoot Frozen Lemonade. We apply the same rigorous standards across all product lines by sourcing high-quality ingredients and working with trusted suppliers who meet our expectations.
Every product we introduce goes through extensive testing to ensure it meets the flavor and experience our customers expect from the Mary Mack’s family of brands. We also pay close attention to customer feedback, developing products as needed to for continuous improvement.
In addition to flavor, we emphasize ease of use and packaging that ensures freshness and convenience—whether it’s melt-in-your-mouth cotton candy or frozen lemonade that’s ready to enjoy on the go. By maintaining a hands-on approach to quality control and sticking to the principles that made our syrups successful, we can confidently offer a range of products that reflect the same high standards and delight our customers.
Your brand prides itself on bringing joy to families with products like Hawaiian Shaved Ice, Cotton Candy Express, and Scoot Frozen Lemonade. How do you see the role of these products in creating memorable moments for your customers?
With all three brands, Hawaiian Shaved Ice, Cotton Candy Express, and Scoot Frozen Lemonade, our products are more than just treats—they’re invitations to bring people together and create cherished memories. Whether it’s families crafting colorful shaved ice on a summer afternoon, kids enjoying cotton candy at a birthday party, or friends cooling off with a pouch of Scoot Frozen Lemonade at a community event, our goal is to spark moments of joy.
We believe that food has a unique way of connecting people, and we design our products to make those moments easy and fun to share. From simple at-home kits to convenient, on-the-go options like Scoot Frozen Lemonade, every product we offer encourages creativity, fun, and connection.
What truly drives us is knowing that we play a small role in these special moments—whether it’s a family celebration, a school event, or just a fun day spent together. The smiles, laughter, and togetherness our products inspire are the heart of what we do, and we remain committed to delivering quality, joy, and memorable experiences with every flavor and every product.
Sustainability and product quality are increasingly important to consumers. How does Mary Mack's ensure that its products are made from high-quality ingredients while maintaining environmental responsibility in your manufacturing processes?
We understand that today’s consumers care about both quality and sustainability, and we’re committed to delivering on both fronts. Our products, from Hawaiian Shaved Ice to Scoot Frozen Lemonade, are made with high-quality ingredients that meet the expectations of our customers. We have a rigorous supplier approval program and we work closely with those trusted suppliers to ensure consistent quality, using premium ingredients that deliver the authentic flavors our customers love.
On the sustainability side, we’ve implemented several initiatives to reduce our environmental impact. One key step has been purchasing ingredients in bulk, which helps us reduce packaging waste while streamlining our production process. We’re also mindful about minimizing waste throughout manufacturing by carefully planning production runs and improving efficiencies wherever possible.
In addition, we continue to explore eco-friendly packaging options and sustainable sourcing practices to align with our long-term environmental goals. Our commitment to quality and sustainability goes hand in hand—by using better ingredients and reducing waste, we can create products our customers feel good about enjoying.
If you would like to find out more about Mary Mack’s, please visit https://www.marymacks.com/, https://www.HawaiianShavedIce.com, https:// www.CottonCandyExpress.com and https://www.HeyScoot.com