The Rise of the Slurpee

In the US the majority of people are familiar with the name ICEE, and even more are familiar with Slurpee, although neither of those names means anything to people in Britain. They are both brands of slushy drinks which have been developed as a result of a faulty soda fountain in an ice cream store in Kansas in the 1950’s.

The entrepreneurial store owner, one Omar Knedlik, bought the store in the early 1950’s and just after doing so the soda fountain broke. This was in the heat of a Kansas summer, so he ordered in bottled soda and chilled it in his freezer to serve to customers. What he found was that when he opened the bottles the soda immediately turned slushy – and his customers loved it!

He then spent some time playing with an old ice cream maker and trying to replicate the slushy effect, which he eventually did. He now had a machine which could produce the slushy drinks at will and called his drinks ICEE. His machine was patented in 1962, and in 1965 7-Eleven stores bought a licence from Knedlik to use the machines in their stores. They called their product Slurpee after the “slurp” sound that is created when drinking the slush drinks through a straw.

In 7-Eleven stores today (some 8,000 of them) the Slurpee machines have a barrel which is surrounded with refrigerant. The syrup mixture flows into the barrel and is prevented from freezing solid by an auger which keeps it moving. The sugar concentrate also acts like a type of antifreeze. In the same way that we put salt on ice on the ground to melt it, sugar helps prevent the Slurpee from freezing. 

Today there are a lot of slush companies producing the syrups and also the machines in which to produce the slush drinks. Slush machines are found in all sorts of retail outlets and are an extra source of profit because many customers will buy a slush drink on impulse while in the shop. Others – especially schoolchildren - will flock into a store to buy the drinks and make other purchases while there.