We had the good fortune of connecting with Noelle + Todd Breton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Noelle + Todd, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Both my husband and myself have owned a handful of our own businesses so entrepreneurship is in our blood. The opportunity opened up during Covid (I was able to have more free time along with everyone in the world) and we were able to start to organize the Aloha Ice Co plan.

For about 12 years before covid, I (Noelle) was wanting to start a Hawaiian Shave Ice business in our beach town of Carlsbad CA. At the time, food trucks were not allowed in most CA cities. We have a home on the Big Island HI and shave ice is one of our favorite desserts. I was always looking for ways to bring delicious Hawaiian treats to the mainland so others can enjoy so this seemed like the perfect combination for me as an entrepreneur.

By the time covid hit, regulations had changed to allow food trucks and food vending in almost all CA cities. This allowed us to purchase our Aloha Ice Co food truck and see how our delicious shave ice would do in Carlsbad. With the immediate success in our Food Truck we decided to expand and open a storefront location in Carlsbad. We keep growing in popularity with multiple locations in Southern CA.

What should our readers know about your business?
My husband and I own Aloha Ice Co, now a chain brand of Hawaiian Shave Ice, 100% Hawaiian Coffee, Gourmet tropical ice creams, Hawaiian Foods ( Spam Musubi, Poke, Kalua Pork etc)
We opened our food truck in 2021 and our first store front in Carlsbad CA in 2022. We currently have 5 locations and 3 food truck/trailers for event catering etc.

We have gotten where we are today by initially planning and designing a good business plan, learning everything we possibly could learn about running a restaurant business, asking all the questions from other successful companies and then getting our brand to be embraced by the public to become a staple in our community.

I wouldnt say it was hard but I also wouldnt say it was easy. It took us a lot of time and patience to get to the place we are at with Aloha Ice Co. The journey has been very fun and everyday we learn something new.

We strive to bring the Aloha Spirit to all that we do from our customer service, to our quality of food and drink products, and the employees we hire. In following with this motto from the beginning, we have created a company that feel more like family (ohana) than work.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well if I had a friend visiting us in Carlsbad we would expand and make it more of a San Diego trip. A few of our favorite spots would be:
Breakfast spots: Encinitas Cafe (our favorite with family and friends) or The Goods donuts in Carlsbad
Lunch: Hawaiian Fresh Seafood (Liberty Station) and Brigantine Downtown SD waterfront
Dinner: Nicks on State Street in Carlsbad is our staple in town or Sushi Taisho in Carlsbad

Things to do: We of course LOVE our Carlsbad Beach. Its the best beach in SoCAL (or so we like to think) and so easy to grab a shave ice and head down to enjoy the day. The SD Zoo/Wild Animal park (we are frequent visitors with our family and new grandson), we love walking around Little Italy in downtown SD too.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would love to give a shout out to all of our amazing customers! We of course could not do this without the support we receive from our Carlsbad Local community and all of the tourists who come to beautiful Southern CA. Bringing people the ALOHA spirit is what drives us everyday.

Website: https://www.alohaiceco.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alohaiceco/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aloha-ice-co/

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSoCal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.