Port reveals new plan for Crosley Building and Kona Ice CEO chats complexity of shaved ice business
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Hosts Andy and Tom talk about why Cincinnati’s new $540 million convention center headquarters hotel will not be a JW Marriott, as well as the Port’s plans for Camp Washington, a robotic welding company that was launched by Space X alumni, the most significant moment in a local unicorn’s history and how cool it would be to have a car condo.
Plus, we sit down with Kona Ice CEO Tony Lamb who shares how he turned a simple shaved ice concept into the largest mobile food vendor in the world, with thousands of Kona Ice and Traveling Tom’s trucks on the road, by leaning into mobile operations, a patented “flavor wave” system that lets customers create their own combinations and proprietary routing and staffing software born during Covid-19.
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- 0:00Chapter 1
- 0:59Welcome to Above The Fold
- 1:55Marriott vs. JW Marriott and Convention Hotel Decision
- 5:36Camp Washington Redevelopment and Crosley Building Strategy
- 10:56SpaceX Alumni Launch 1872 AI robotic Welding Startup in Camp Washington
- 13:47Needle-free Cancer Drug Delivery and Enable Injections’ FDA win
- 16:29Luxury car “man cave” garages – Torque Motor Suites Expansion to Blue Ash
- 19:38Kona Ice – World’s Largest Mobile Food Business
- 20:27Kona Ice Peak Season, July 4th “Super Bowl,” and Local Operations
- 23:21Scale of Kona Ice and Focus on Mobile Over Brick-and-Mortar
- 25:20Kona Ice Origin Story – Choosing Shaved Ice, Inventing Flavorwave, and Low Fixed Royalties
- 31:22Building Proprietary Routing and Operations Software and Surviving COVID with Curbside Kona
- 34:53Interest in Licensing Software, Food Truck Regulation, and Creation of Roll Brands
- 39:52Why Tony Loves the Cincinnati Region and Must-do Local Experiences
- 42:22Future of Roll Brands – New Savory Pretzel Truck, More Concepts, and Family-Inspired Brands