- November 21, 2024
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Joey Sherman takes orders at the Snowy Smoothie Saloon truck during a practice run on Sept. 10 serving friends and neighbors at the Shermans' Palm Coast home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin, right, took a tour of Joey Sherman's Snowy Smoothie Saloon truck, which will debut at the Potato Bowl football game Sept. 15 at Matanzas High School. Courtesy photo from the City of Palm Coast
The Sherman family — Steven, Steve, Jessica and Joey — in front of Joey's Snowy Smoothie Saloon truck. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Joey Sherman prepares a snow cone during a practice run Sept. 10 in the Shermans' driveway. Photo by Brent Woronoff
A customer picks up an order at the Snowy Smoothie Saloon's practice run Sept. 10 at the Shermans' Palm Coast home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Austin Weeks orders a smoothie during a practice run Sept. 10 at the Shermans' Palm Coast home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Inside the Snowy Smoothie Saloon truck. Courtesy photo from the City of Palm Coast
Jessica Sherman at the pickup window during a practice run Sept. 10 at the Shermans' Palm Coast home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Joey Sherman takes orders at the Snowy Smoothie Saloon truck during a practice run Sept. 10 serving friends and neighbors at the Shermans' Palm Coast home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Joey Sherman, right, and Violet Ochrietor prepare smoothies inside the Snowy Smoothie Saloon food truck during a practice run Sept. 10 at the Shermans' Palm Coast home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Emily and Faith Montgomery sit down with their snow cone and smoothie during the food truck's practice run at the Shermans' Palm Coast home on Sept. 10. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas High School junior Joey Sherman has been preparing to open his food truck — Snowy Smoothie Saloon — for the past two years.
He’ll finally be open for business at the Potato Bowl football game at Matanzas on Friday, Sept. 15. Sherman and his two friends, Gavin Winfree and Violet Ochrietor, will serve fruit smoothies and snow cones, with soda and water also available.
He’ll have a grand opening ribbon cutting on Sept. 29 at the Flagler County Pro Rodeo at the Flagler County Fairgrounds.
“I’m really excited,” Sherman, 16, said. “I’ve been telling my friends about this for the past two years.”
The idea has been in the works since Sherman’s parents, Jessica and Steve, closed their Palm Coast business, Twisted Minds Escape Room, during COVID-19. Since then, they’ve been helping their youngest son start his own business. (Older son Steven is a senior at Matanzas).
Joey and his father, Steve, converted a cargo trailer the Shermans had used in their business into the watering hole-themed truck.
“I took down the walls, put in foam insulation, did the wiring and the plumbing, put the walls back up — wrapped in linoleum — and we added tables, sinks, stuff like that,” Joey Sherman said.
He did research. He saw there was an uptick in food trucks during COVID, especially smoothie trucks.
“I always loved fruit,” he said.
The “Saloon” will serve five basic smoothie flavors and three specialty flavors — the Sheriff (strawberry and banana), the Outlaw (mango, pineapple and strawberry) and the Wrangler (blueberry and banana). It will also have a rotating flavor, Joey said.
Joey earned his ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification at age 14, scoring a 97 on the exam. He had Internet installed, he has his own insurance for the business, and now he’s learning about payroll, Steve said.
Jorge Carrasco of Rev’d Up Marketing did the artwork for the truck, creating the character “Sheriff Snowy.”
The truck has wood pallets for customers to step onto at the ordering and pickup windows. Straws and napkins are in containers placed on two wooden barrels.
The truck’s Old West watering hole theme is part of Joey’s long-range business model to follow the rodeo circuit.
Joey has always enjoyed cooking and baking, and Steve has 32 years of experience in the restaurant business, opening up individual stores for corporate chains. Joey is in Matanzas’ culinary program, and after he graduates from high school, he wants to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America or Johnson & Wales University’s culinary arts program.
Hopefully he can eventually franchise this out and go into brick and mortar. The knowledge and experience he’s gaining right now is important, because this is what he wants to do with his future.” — STEVE SHERMAN on son Joey's smoothie and snow cone truck.
“Hopefully he can eventually franchise this out and go into brick and mortar,” Steve said. “The knowledge and experience he’s gaining right now is important, because this is what he wants to do with his future.”
For now, Joey, a cadet in Matanzas’ Army JROTC program, wants to work JROTC and community events and donate a percentage of the profits to the JROTC programs at Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast high schools.
He is limited in how much time he can devote to the business. In addition to JROTC, he is dual-enrolled, has a 5.16 GPA in the Cambridge AICE program and is a member of the National Honor Society. He is also a member of the Matanzas JROTC drill team, Color Guard and Raider team.
Before Matanzas athletic director Jordan Butler invited Snowy Smoothie Saloon to be one of the food trucks at the Potato Bowl, Joey Sherman was scheduled to lead the JROTC’s traffic patrol at the game.
“At first he wasn’t going to man the truck (at the game),” Jessica Sherman said. “He said the traffic kids aren’t going to know what to do. But the first sergeant gave him the green light.”
