Pelican's Snowballs has become a popular spot for frozen treats
For the last three years, Greg Davis and his family have been providing snow year-round to Plant City with his establishment, Pelican’s SnoBalls.
The shaved iced has attracted many to the shop right off Collins Street.
Greg was first introduced to the franchise when his daughter Mallory, tried one of its flavors at the shop in Auburndale.
“She said ‘dad you’ve got to try one of these things’,” he recalled.
The egg custard snoball with marshmallow cream had her raving to her dad about how good it tasted. The name itself was a turn-off, but once he tried it, he envisioned another business opportunity, Greg said.
“I had one and I knew that that was it instantly,” he said.
It got to the point where he would drive 45 minutes, once a week, to treat himself to a snoball.
After working at Tampa Electric Company (TECO) for 24 years, he was ready to start his own establishment. His goal was to start his own company before he turned 40.
He bought the skating rink in Plant City that was initially named Cowart’s Skating and changed it to Skate Zone. In the eight years he had it operating, he enjoyed providing customer service.
“I really, really, really loved that,” Greg said. “That was a really good part of my life. I loved every Friday and Saturday, seeing all the new kids and families.”
After he sold Skate Zone, he purchased property where he built a car lot, Amazing Autos. He tried to keep it afloat but was losing clientele as online competitors began to dominate the market.
Then Mallory introduced him to Pelican’s, and he knew it was time to enter the next chapter of his career as an owner of the franchise.
“We were actually on a family vacation in Daytona and our family voted on doing it,” said Billie Jo, Greg’s wife. “We knew we were closing the car lot and doing something else. We all voted on it. We wanted to know we had our family’s support, because we would need their help.”
In 2019, the family transformed the property of the car lot into what it is today. The construction took a year to complete.
Snoballs come from a New Orleans tradition of combining shaved ice with a variety of flavors.
The Pelican’s franchise was established over 20 years ago and now has 198 shops across 17 states. Including Plant City, there are 16 locations throughout Florida.
Patrons can purchase pelican bucks, which are distributed as coins. They can buy 25 bucks, valued at $1 for each, for $20.
At the Plant City branch, patrons have the option to stay inside the air-conditioned shop with a TV and board games. Outside are multiple tables and recreational games for kids. The area is also fenced in to ensure safety.
It offers over 100 snoball flavors and an assortment of different kinds of ice cream – including 18 flavors of Hershey’s hand-dipped ice cream.
One of the most craved treats at the Plant City shop is the Cookies-n-Cream snoball, Greg said. This is basically Cookies-n-Cream ice cream stuffed into a snoball topped with whipped cream and an Oreo cookie.
What’s most popular among girls accompanied with their dads is the Unicorn flavored snoball, which consists of blue and pink cotton candy, with whipped cream and fairy dust (sprinkles).
Boys tend to order the Shark Attack – a combination of flavors such as the Sour Tsunami and Tiger’s Blood, topped with a shark gummie.
“We have built community support,” Billie Jo said. “That’s probably why we’re in Plant City rather than going to Brandon or Lakeland or Zephyrhills. There’s still people in Plant City that we’re meeting.”
They have served at weddings, birthdays, graduations, family reunions, and little league get-togethers, among other occasions.
They also have a bus to cater out in the community.
“It’s so funny,” Greg said. “I have some parents that come up to the window on their way home from work and they’ll stop and get themselves a snoball and they’ll go ‘don’t tell my kids I was here.’”
The establishment has supported those who are going through rough moments in their lives. Greg is a youth pastor at the Plant City Church of God, and uses his faith to be a source of comfort to others.
In one instance, Greg set up shop outside of Tomlin Middle School and prayed for a man who lost his job and was behind in paying his bills. Several months later, the gentleman came to the shop and told Greg that he had been hired as a state trooper and was receiving a salary that was higher than he expected.
However, there is one experience that stands out to him the most.
Before her passing, a woman at Tampa General Hospital asked a special request from her sister. She wanted her sister to bring her back one of her favorite Pelican’s snoballs – Tiger’s Blood.
The sister filled a cooler with ice, purchased the snoball in the biggest-sized cup and brought it back to her sister.
A week later, the sister asked Greg if he could serve outside the funeral service. He gathered everything in the bus and fulfilled his service.
“That probably touched my heart more than anything that I’ve ever done since we opened,” he said.
The shop’s seven employees also play a huge role in providing great customer service, Greg said.
His son Ryan manages the establishment for him, and his daughter Mallory is the assistant manager. His other son Landon stocks up the bus and takes it to special events and his other daughter Hillary makes sure that their social media platforms are up to date.
“We have a quarterly meeting and I stress to the employees ‘we have the product. I want the customer service to match the product,’ Greg said. ‘Find one good thing to say to that customer, don’t just slide them a snoball through the window, but say something really nice, something to make that customer feel good, because you don’t know what customers are dealing with in the world we live in today. We need that.’”
Pelican’s SnoBalls has brought joy back into his life, he said.
