The Icee Company (previously Western Icee and Icee USA) is an American beverage company located in

La Vergne, Tennessee La Vergne ( ) is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee. The population was 38,719 at the 2020 census. La Vergne lies within the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area. History La Vergne was incorporated in 1861. Historical variant names incl ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Its flagship product is the Icee (stylized as ICEE), which is a

frozen carbonated beverage A slushy (also spelled slushie and less commonly slushee) is a type of beverage made of flavored ice and a drink, similar to granitas but with a more liquid composition. It is also commonly called a slush, a slurpee, frozen beverage, or frozen d ...

available in fruit and

soda Soda or SODA may refer to: Chemistry * Some chemical compounds containing sodium ** Sodium carbonate, washing soda or soda ash ** Sodium bicarbonate, baking soda ** Sodium hydroxide, caustic soda ** Sodium oxide, an alkali metal oxide * Sod ...

flavors. Icee also produces other frozen

beverages A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies a ...

and

Italian ice Italian ice is a frozen or semi-frozen sweetened treat made with fruit (often from concentrates, juices, or purées) or other natural or artificial food flavorings.U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationCFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 Acce ...

pops under the Icee and Slush Puppie brands. ICEE Bear, an animated

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

, is the company's mascot. The Icee Company was founded by Omar Knedlik, the inventor of the original Icee drink. It became the foundation for the

Slurpee Slurpee is the brand name for carbonated slushies sold by 7-Eleven and its subsidiaries A-Plus and Speedway. The brand first originated in 1966 when 7-Eleven made a licensing deal with The Icee Company to sell slushies in 7-Eleven stores. H ...

and other frozen machine drinks after several machines made by the company were purchased by

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

in 1965. It has been a division of

J & J Snack Foods J&J Snack Foods Corporation (JJSFC) is an American manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of name brand snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, NJ, JJSF uses over 175 facilities for manufacturing, warehousing, and distrib ...

since 1988 and distributes products in the United States,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the United Kingdom,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and the Middle East.

History

The Icee was invented in 1958 by

Omar Knedlik Omar S. Knedlik (December 21, 1916 – March 14, 1989) was an American inventor and businessman. He was best known as the inventor of the ICEE frozen drink. He was born and raised a poor farm boy in Barnes, Kansas in 1916. Knedlik was a World War ...

, a

Dairy Queen Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc. (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 1998) which also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and G ...

owner in

Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's Southeast Kansas, southeastern region. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. The beverage was the result of faulty equipment in the Dairy Queen owned by Knedlik. His soda machine broke and he began placing bottles of soda in the freezer to keep them cold. Knedlik began selling bottles of the soda which would instantly turn to slush once opened. The frozen soda became popular with the customers of the establishment. The name Icee as well as the original company logo were developed by Ruth E. Taylor, a local artist and friend of Knedlik. She developed the name "Icee", as well as the idea of the logo's icicles hanging from the block letters, which has remained unchanged. She thought of the Polar Bear, but the actual bear mascot had already been created by the Norsworthy-Mercer ad agency. The "Icee" word with the snow on it was designed by a Mitchell Company staff artist, Lonnie Williams, as part of a cup he designed. Knedlik partnered with the John E Mitchell Company in Dallas to develop the machine, for which Knedlik received a patent in 1960. The first machine was made from a car air conditioning unit. It worked by combining freezing water, carbon dioxide, and a flavor mix. After five years, Knedlik's idea had become the iconic Icee Machine after drawing the attention of

. The convenience store chain purchased several machines and later changed the product name to

based on the slurping sound people make when drinking the beverage. The Mitchell Company instituted a two-tiered franchise plan involving "Developers" and "Subdevelopers". Essentially, the Developers and Subdevelopers both paid fees and rentals for the right to use specified numbers of Icee dispensers and for rights within exclusive territories to distribute the machines and to promote the sale of the Icee drink. By the mid-1960s, 300 Icee machines had been manufactured. J & J Snack Foods purchased The Icee Company in 1987. In December 2019, the company moved their headquarters from

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, ...

Products and licensing

Drinks

The Icee Company has over 75,000 Icee machines across America serving over 300 million Icee servings per year.

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

and Subway restaurants inside

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

stores sell Icees.

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

restaurants and

Sam’s Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...

locations in the US sell Icees and Icee Floats.

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

and Wawa also sell Icees inside their stores. In

, Icee is widely available at department stores such as Walmart and inside movie theaters and convenience stores. Icee is also the primary frozen beverage sold in Wawa and

Quick Chek QuickChek is a chain of convenience stores based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey with 153 stores in New Jersey and New York. The first store opened in Dunellen, New Jersey in 1967, and has since then grown into a chain. Several stores include p ...

, two convenience store chains in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. Icee is available at Valero gas stations co-branded with their CornerStore marts (except for independently owned stores) as well as at most

Rainforest Café Rainforest Cafe is a jungle- themed restaurant chain owned by Landry's, Inc., of Houston. It was founded by Steven Schussler. The first location opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 3, 1994. By 1997, the chai ...

locations. In 2019, Icee expanded into the United Kingdom for the first time, by partnering with

Vimto Vimto is a soft drink first sold in Lancashire in the United Kingdom. It was first manufactured as a health tonic in cordial form, then decades later as a carbonated drink. It contains the juice of grapes, raspberries and blackcurrants (in a ...

, a UK-based international soft drinks manufacturer and distributor. A Europe-wide contract to supply the

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...

cinema chain quickly followed. In late 2019 / early 2020 another European-wide contract to supply

Showcase Cinemas Showcase Cinemas is a movie theater chain owned and operated by National Amusements. It operates in a total of four countries: the United States (flagship), Brazil, the United Kingdom and Argentina. Locations Showcase operates more than 950 ...

further expanded the brand across Europe.

Toys

In January 2020,

Moose Toys Moose Toys (or Moose Enterprises or Moose Creative Management Pty Ltd or The Moose Group) is an Australian-owned toy design, development and distribution company founded in 1985. Moose is headquartered in Australia, has over 600 staff and dist ...

partnered up with Icee’s Slush Puppie brand to make 4 Special Edition Slush Puppie-themed

Shopkins Real Littles, formerly and also called Shopkins, are a range of tiny, collectable toys manufactured by Moose Toys. Based on grocery store items, each plastic figure has a recognisable face and unique name. They also have special finishes like t ...

and Mini Packs for Season 13 (Real Littles Season 2) of the Shopkins franchise. The same 4 Shopkins were re-released for Season 14 (or Real Littles Season 3). In 2021, it was revealed that Moose Toys again partnered up with Icee to make Shopkins and Mini Packs based on the main Icee line of drinks, which will be released in October 2021.

References

External links