New Hamilton business: Frost Factory expanding beyond Liberty Center offering alcohol slushies

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

Frost Factory, which has been a hit at Liberty Center with real-fruit slushies for adults and kids (alcohol for the adults), signed a lease to open a second location next year on Main Street in Hamilton.

The location will be one of four street-level retail spaces in developer Jim Cohen’s proposed Rossville Flats complex of about 80 apartments in the 300 block of Main Street.

Cohen was the man who developed The Marcum complex of apartments and retail/restaurants in downtown Hamilton. It will be near the former Ritzi Body Shop, where Agave & Rye plans to move in with its bar/restaurant, and next to the Village Parlor ice cream shop.

“It’s exciting,” said Jamie Gregory, who owns Frost Factory with Samantha “Sammi” Wendt. “I had been telling my partner for a while I thought Hamilton would be a good idea with Spooky Nook (Sports Champion Mill indoor sports complex) coming in. My kids all went to Hamilton. I went to Edgewood, so I’ve lived in Hamilton for years. My two sons graduated from Hamilton.”

“When they announced Agave, it furthered us: We’ve got to do Hamilton,” Gregory said.

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

Frost Factory serves frozen slushies, with or without alcohol, all of the drinks using the company’s own recipes, with everything made in-house.

“We are a bar, but we wanted to be family-friendly, being at Liberty Center,” Gregory said, “because people people bring their kids. They can get them a drink and their kids a drink at the same time.”

“We make all of our stuff in-house, and we do use fresh fruit in the fruity ones,” Gregory said. “We use a higher-end syrup that has fruit in it as well, but we use half fruit too.”

“We come up with all these cool flavors, and we do that all on our own,” she said. There are 13 flavors at all times, and flavors rotate by the season, the next batch appearing June 1 for the summer lineup.

One popular drink was the Mermaid Mule, a blue drink with a mix of coconut, ginger and vodka.

“People tend to love the blue drinks,” she said. “We have a blue margarita now that’s called Beach Vibes, and people are obsessed with that one.”

The Hamilton store, expected to open around this time next year, will be the second location for Frost Factory, which opened in July and often has long lines out the door on weekends.

Business has been “great — even with Covid, we’ve done great,” Gregory said. “And we’re off to a great start for this year as well.”

City Manager Joshua Smith said he recently went to visit the Liberty location and the popular place had a line of more than 20 minutes long out the door.

Smith said he was pleased Hamilton will be their second location.

Lines should be shorter and move faster this summer as COVID-19 restrictions ease, Gregory said.

“Hopefully this is just the first of more growing, more locations,” Gregory said.

“I love to see what they’re doing with Hamilton, and the growth and the cool stuff that they’re bringing to the area,” she said. “I think we’re going to be a great addition to what they’re doing.”

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