The Garden Island: The Fresh Shave Feature

KALAHEO — When Priscilla Soule moved to Kauai, she wasn’t a fan of shave ice.

“Then, a couple days before I gave birth to my second son, I started craving shave ice. I never in my life craved it before,” she said.

So Soule and her husband Daniel went to the Fresh Shave, a shave ice truck in Kalaheo owned by a local family.

“We started coming a lot. We lived on the Eastside at the time and we made special trips and planned certain weekend days to come to the South Shore and get shave ice,” she said.

Then, last year, the family approached the Soules about buying the business.

“We didn’t really think twice about it,” Priscilla Soule said. “We asked a handful of questions about logistics and said yes immediately.”

The Soule’s took over the business on April 1.

Not even a year later, the shave ice business, which serves handcrafted shave ice, topped with natual and locally grown ingredients, will be opening up a second location — in Long Beach, California.

“Expanding our presence to the mainland was the natural next step for The Fresh Shave,” says Priscilla Soule, president.

Since the company’s inception in 2014, The Fresh Shave has been focused on offering desserts with no artificial preservatives, additives or colors.

“We’re excited to share our organic, handcrafted shave ice with Southern California,” she said.

The husband and wife team was approached by SteelCraft, and outdoor urban eatery made up of eight businesses, each housed in a shipping container.

Team members from SteelCraft traveled to different places, trying them out to see if they would be a good fit for the business.

“Someone from the team had been here and loved it, so they suggested us,” she said.

Next week, the Soules will be moving to Long Beach for three months to help set up the business and make sure it’s running smoothly. The new location will open in February. It will serve the regular menu items in addition to incorporating local fruits from California.

She wants to use nectarines, peaches and melons in shave ice concotions in Long Beach. They plan to reach out to local farmers and go to farmers markets for their ingredients, which is somthing they do on Kauai.

“It’s amazing how much we can teach the keiki and public in general where food comes from,” Soule said. “We grow the bananas in our yard.”

The Soules are from California.

“When Steelcraft reached out to us, we were thrilled to discover their mission aligns very closely with ours which focuses on Aloha (love), Aina (land) and Ohana (family),” she said. “We believe in the importance of using organic produce and environmentally conscious practices to deliver superior products to our customers. With Steelcraft’s focus on restoration, craft and community, we knew it was a perfect fit.”

The Kauai location will remain open for the three months the Soules are away — a family friend will manage the truck and high school seniors from Kauai High School will help.

In California, Soule hopes to introduce the Hawaiian shave ice to new group of consumers.

“We’re excited to change people’s perspective of what shave ice can be,” she said. “It’s handcrated with Aloha and really a labor of love.”