After its storefront opening earlier this year, Aloha Ice Co. has been serving a vibrant array of Hawaiian shaved ice and ice cream in Carlsbad Village for all to enjoy. The shop offers a quality place to cool off after a hot beach day or long summer walk downtown, which has made it quite the local hotspot.

Known for its diverse variety of items, Aloha Ice’s menu is filled to the brim with all sorts of fruity flavors and delicious toppings. Patrons can order one of the fan-favorite flavor mixes such as “Rainbow Dreamsicle,” “You Had Me at Aloha” or even create one of their own mixes. 

Choosing the latter, they can add three of their existing flavors: maybe some macadamia ice cream and a chocolate or caramel drizzle to sweeten the mix! In addition, they also serve breakfast and lunch items like bagels, donuts, cakes, croissants and cinnamon rolls for a more pastry-craving mood.

“We love all of the flavor options and how big the servings are,” customer Jenna Swykare and her young daughter Kate visit Aloha Ice weekly.

Noel and Todd Breton, the original founders and managers of the shop, started their Aloha Ice journey as a food truck in 2021. Noel tells the story of how she and her husband’s shop came to be so successful over the years.

“For about ten to twelve years, I’ve wanted to open a shaved ice place in Carlsbad,” Noel said. “I always thought it was kind of weird we didn’t have one since we’ve been living here for a really long time.”

Fortunately, everything fell together for the earnest couple.

“A couple years ago, they started allowing food trucks, so we decided to try this shaved ice thing in a truck. It did so well, we ended up opening the store.”

The adjustment from food truck to storefront has been a shockingly easy one for the Bretons. Despite their portability, a food truck comes with a lot more difficulties than one would think, like making and storing all of the food in a commercial kitchen.

“Now we have everything in one location. It makes things much easier,” Noel said.

In the shop’s cold treat-selling endeavors, they have gained quite the following. Long lines of eager customers regularly appear during business hours, but it’s all worth it for the refreshing taste of shaved ice.

“I come here about once a week,” David Elias, a long-time Aloha Ice customer said. “I love to order their Hawaiian Ice!”

One unique aspect of the shop is the authenticity of its shaved ice. As opposed to mainland snow cones, Aloha Ice’s products are inspired by Hawaiian shaved ice, which means their shaved ice has ice cream at the bottom and condensed milk on top.

“Meeting all the new customers, just all the people that we get to know, having a shop that a bunch of locals come into, has got to be one of the best parts of managing a shop,” Breton said.