From left, Kyle Littlepage, minority owner, and Mars Chapman, owner, stand in front of the company food truck from which they offer catering.[/caption]
Mars Chapman said he knows his business can make the difference between a good day and bad day for a customer.
Chapman’s shaved ice desserts at Casey’s New Orleans Snowballs provide a special experience, he said, which is why a line often snakes around the business’ stand on East 51st Street.
He recalled a former employee’s epiphany about customer satisfaction midway through Casey’s warmer-month season: “Mars, I get it. You have to put the love in the snowball. It makes it taste better.”
Casey’s opened its East 51st location in 1996, a year after the shaved ice vendor opened a trailer on The University of Texas campus.
The business features 72 homemade flavors of snowballs, a New Orleans shaved ice dessert known for its melt-in-your-mouth texture, Chapman said.
Kyle Littlepage, a minority owner and general manager at the stand on East 51st, is deaf, and so is his brother Cody, who also works there. Casey’s employs two other deaf people. Both serve customers who come up to the Casey’s window to place their order. They do so by providing a paper plate on which customers write their orders.
“We are an example of deaf and hearing working together, which you don’t see that often,” Chapman said of his business partner.
Chapman said it means a lot to him that the business is able to overcome bias against deaf people.
Casey’s New Orleans Snowballs uses pure cane sugar in its syrup; its ice is finely shaved to give the snowball a smooth texture.[/caption]
Flavors include standards such as strawberry and lime as well as specialties, such as the Boston Cream Pie with custard syrup and Casey’s Famous Chocolate.
Chapman took over the business after his father, Cliff, retired in 2014. Cliff and his wife, Pattye Henderson, acquired it from the original owners—Kit Thompson and Suzy Gallagher, nee Casey—in 2008.
Chapman said the boiling technique Casey’s uses to make its syrups combined with excellent customer service are major factors in the business’ success.
“I think a really important part of the recipe is love and kindness,” Chapman said. “We really care about what we do.”
Casey’s boils a confection of water and pure cane sugar or sweetener for the sugar-free flavors to make simple syrup its more than 70 in-house flavors. Flavor is added to the syrup after it cools. The business is also known for its chocolate and cream syrups, which are traditional New Orleans flavors.[/caption]
Making syrup Casey’s style
Casey’s boils a confection of water and pure cane sugar or sweetener for the sugar-free flavors to make simple syrup its more than 70 in-house flavors. Flavor is added to the syrup after it cools. The business is also known for its chocolate and cream syrups, which are traditional New Orleans flavors.
