“Find a good location, work the shop yourself, and you can make really good money,” Bourgoyne said. You can also expect to work 50 hours a week during the summer when snowballs become a south Louisiana staple, as much a part of the culture as jambalaya, LSU football, 90-degree heat and 80 percent humidity.
“Some people feel like snowballs must be an easy way to make money,” Bourgoyne said. “But any time you make money at something, there’s work behind it.”

Still, she said, snowball stands can be a surprisingly profitable business.
Officials with the SnoWizard supply house in New Orleans project that a well-run snowball stand can bring in $250 per day in sales. The best locations can gross $500 a day.
A stand’s profit margin can range as high as 45 percent of sales, depending on how many part-time helpers an owner hires to staff the business, said Sciortino, SnoWizard’s owner. Typical hours are 1 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily at the height of summer and 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. once school starts.

Profits at a single snowball stand can top $20,000 in a busy summer, officials with SnoWizard said. Such numbers rank the snowball business as a solid choice for someone searching for a second income for their family.

Bourgoyne runs a beauty shop in addition to her Port Allen snowball stand.
Sciortino, who took over SnoWizard a few years ago from his late uncle, said his firm has sold ice-shaving machines in 49 states. The company also supplies 96 flavored extracts and other supplies that snowball entrepreneurs need to get started.
Sciortino’s late uncle, George Ortolano, is widely credited with
popularizing the snowball in Depression-era New Orleans.

Snowballs made with pulverized ice had been around a long time by the late 1930s, but Ortolano designed a newfangled machine in 1936 that made the concoctions much more of a delicacy. Instead of producing chunky bits of ice like older ice-crushing methods did, Ortolano’s new machine used three stainless steel blades to shave block ice into a fine powder.

Ortolano’s basic design is still used today, and many of his older machines are still in operation. Bourgoyne uses a 16-year-old SnoWizard machine in her shop.

Port Allen devotees look for Bourgoyne’s electric sign to light up every spring right after Easter. She illuminates the sign for a week before opening to let passersby know snoball season is coming.
Most stands stay open from mid-March until Sept. 30. Once the first cold snap hits, though, many snowball stands close. The weather has to be hot for customers to be attracted to the product. The same factors that make running a home-based business popular lure would-be entrepreneurs to snowballs, Bourgoyne said. They see it as a way to be their own boss, work flexible hours and make a good bit of money, she said.

“Frankly, word of mouth helps build the snowball business,” Sciortino said. “People see lots of shops around or they worked at one once, and they decide to start a stand of their own.”
What people don’t see is how much hard work goes into even a small stand, Bourgoyne said. Bourgoyne puts in seven-day work weeks during snowball season, making her own ice daily in a machine that freezes 20 blocks of ice at a time.

“Some people think they can throw up a little shack, hire a couple of high school kids and start rolling in the dough,” he said. It doesn’t work that way. “The best method is to have an owner/operator who spends a lot of time at the store themselves,” he said.

The more hours an owner works, the bigger the potential profits.
“Labor is your single biggest expense,” Sciortino said. “If you can work a stand yourself, you can make as much as 50 percent profit after paying the rent and other expenses.”

The best months for snowball sales are April, May and June. The most popular flavor is strawberry.
“You don’t do as well in August and September,” Bourgoyne said. “In the early part of the year, people are just ready for ‘em.” Late summer also brings more rainy days, she said, and rain melts sales.

Another bit of advice from Bourgoyne is: Don’t cut corners. Don’t water down bottled flavors too much or cut condensed milk to make supplies last longer.

“I’d rather have more expenses and keep my steady customers,” she said. After 16 years in the business, though, Bourgoyne knows she can’t please everyone. Many local customers appreciate powdery snow and rich flavors, but others insist on too much syrup, she said. “There’s a difference between a good snowball and slush,” she said. “You’re not supposed to drink a snowball. If you want a slush drink, go somewhere else.”