Boro Sno wrapped up its fourth season of business last Sunday. The business is locally owned by Bethany DeZelle and is located on The Blue Mile in downtown Statesboro.
DeZelle's inspiration for Boro Sno came from her childhood love of snow cones and her cravings for them during both of her pregnancies. When she was pregnant with each of her sons, DeZelle and her husband would drive to Savannah to get them because there wasn’t a place like that in Statesboro.
When COVID-19 hit, something in DeZelle sparked her to start looking for locations for her own business. For DeZelle, her business had to sell traditional Hawaiian shaved ice which is fluffier than a crunchy snow cone.
What keeps her the most motivated with running her business, are her customers.
“Snow cones know no demographic,” DeZelle said. “Socioeconomic status, religion, whatever you want to call it, they are for everyone.”
When Boro Sno first opened, something that brought DeZelle to tears was the line from the front of the building to the hotel next door.
“I want it to be about the people,” DeZelle said. “The world is a better place because you are in it and I hope people feel that way when they come.”
“We talk about it here all the time how we can brighten people’s days with just a snow cone,” said Boro Sno employee Emma Mathis.
Another motivator for DeZelle is the outdoor atmosphere.
Something that adds to the outdoor atmosphere is the music that plays outside. The old-rock genre establishes a sense of nostalgia for older customers.
“I want it to taste just like it did when they were kids,” DeZelle said.
In their first year of business, Boro Sno’s popularity grew because of the college kids posting about it on social media.
“Our college students really are kind of the heart of our business,” said DeZelle.
Over the past four years, Boro Sno has grown from just selling shaved ice out of their shop.
“The biggest growth we’ve seen has been in the catering side of our business,” DeZelle said.
Boro Sno has a bubble gum pink van called the Snow Mobile that they take out in the community to weddings, birthday parties, and Georgia Southern University student organization events.
After catering for a school’s field day, the workers learned that needed a way to quickly distribute a packaged product, so they created Snow Pops. The Snow Pops are sold at Georgia Southern football games and out of an ice cream shop on Tybee Island which has helped contribute to the growth of the whole sales side of Boro Sno.
Bethany DeZelle knows her strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur. Some of the best advice she has ever been given came from Philip Klayman, owner of Three Tree Coffee Roasters.
“He said, you just have to know who you are, what you’re doing, put your head down, and do that,” DeZelle said.
Over the past four years of business, DeZelle is most proud of showing women that a young mother can be successful in running a business.
“You can do it,” DeZelle said. “It’s not easy, but you can do it.”
Within the next year, a goal for Boro Sno is to open a second location and expand the business. DeZelle and her team have worked hard to develop the building and property in order to make Boro Sno the community asset that it is today.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone in Statesboro for supporting us and supporting our family and just, thank you,” DeZelle said.
To follow their journey, take a look at the Boro Sno Instagram page here.
