As their investments turned cold, the Lake Bridgeport couple turned to something even colder for a better return on their hard-earned money. It all started when Cheri was in line at a car wash and noticed the brisk activity at the adjoining ice house. Customers walked up to the ice house, deposited their money and returned to their car with a big bag of ice.
She noted the phone number on the side of the giant machine and got in touch with the distributor.
Unable to find a suitable location in Bridgeport, which would have been closer to their home, they ventured further east and found an ideal spot in Decatur, at the corner of Washburn and Walnut. They closed on the property May 20 and set their sights on opening the facility by the July 4th weekend.
"I can honestly say that without the great help and support of the Decatur Planning and Development department and their staff of dedicated personnel, we would not be open for business as of this time," Doug said. "The staff helped guide us through all of the paperwork, permits, planning and platting necessary for us to put this all together in a period of five weeks and two days. I can't say enough about how enthusiastic they were to help bring a new business to Decatur."
On, June 26, the Dunlaps had their certificate of occupancy and the "Now Open" banner went up.
They call the business Twice the Ice because of the large size of the bags and the price, normally less than the price of other bagged ice. The facility is fully automated and self-contained. The ice maker produces 6,120 pounds of ice in 24 hours or 34 pounds every eight minutes. It was baptism by fire over the July 4th weekend as triple digit temperatures and a three-day holiday combined to push the equipment to the max.
"We sold out of ice on Saturday," Doug said.
Ice is packaged fresh, on demand in 16-pound bags or 20 pounds of ice can be dispensed directly into the customer's container for the same price of $1.75, which includes sales tax.
Although ice has no flavor, Doug points out that his ice picks up the flavor of a particular drink, and customers love to eat the ice because of its soft, crunchy consistency.
The water supply at Twice the Ice is run through a water softener and dual stage filter before it gets to the ice maker. An additional filter is used for making the water that is also sold at the 24-hours-a-day machine.
To make the business convenient for large volume users, the Dunlaps offer an alternative to using cash for each vend of ice. Call (940) 389-4303 to learn more about the token program.
