Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Blosser.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The seed for Nugget Ice was planted a long time before there was ever a machine. It was a fall morning in 2002, my first day of business class at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. The professor mentioned a term I’d never heard before: “cash cow.” Something about that stuck with me. I didn’t know what it would be yet, but I knew one day I wanted to build a business like that — something simple, durable, and scalable.
After college, I went back to work with my father in our family’s commercial construction and commercial real estate development businesses. We built and developed retail shopping centers across Georgia and the Southeast, working with national tenants. That’s where I learned what retailers truly care about: sales per square foot. If something produces strong revenue in a small footprint, retailers pay attention.
Fast forward to 2012. I became interested in ice vending and took a hard look at the leading player at the time. The concept was intriguing, but after running the pro forma and financials, I couldn’t make the numbers work. The machines were expensive, the footprint was large, they required special zoning/rezoning and special construction permits sometimes taking years depending on the municipality, and the returns didn’t pencil.
I asked my dad what he knew about them. He said, “They’re really expensive.” When I told him the cost, he looked at me and said, “I could build you one for half that.” I said, “Sold.”
That night I didn’t sleep at all.
At the time, Redbox was at its peak, with roughly 44,000 units operating nationwide. They had disrupted Blockbuster and the traditional movie rental industry by making rentals more convenient, frictionless, and accessible. Eventually Redbox itself got disrupted because it didn’t innovate fast enough as streaming took over — but the business thesis was sound.
The next day I went back to my dad and told him: if we’re going to build an ice vending machine from scratch — if we’re going to change how people experience bagged ice — it needs to be radically smaller. I told him to build a machine the size of a Coke machine that could hold 1,000 pounds of ice.
That challenge lit him up.
He spent the last season of his life designing, building, refining, and ultimately patenting that machine. It became his final invention and his legacy.
In 2016, life took me in another direction. I went deeper into real estate, earned my master’s degree from Georgia State University, started a brokerage in Griffin called Paragon Realty, invested in property, and started a family. The ice machine never left my mind — but it was still my dad’s project.
In January of 2024, my father passed away. Shortly after, his company shut down.
That’s when I stepped in.
I bought back 16 used machines, rebuilt the business from the ground up, and relaunched it as Nugget Ice™ — not just to preserve what he built, but to take it further. We modernized the machines, improved the technology, refined the operating model, and started placing them in real-world locations.
Customers didn’t just like the ice — they loved it. They started asking for it by name. That’s when I knew this wasn’t just a product. It was a brand.
Today, Nugget Ice is a family-run, faith-driven company operating self-serve nugget ice vending machines that function like micro-factories on sidewalks. We own and operate every machine ourselves. We’re disrupting an outdated bagged-ice model with a better product, a smaller footprint, and a lot more intention.
For me, this business is about more than ice. It’s about honoring my dad’s life work, building something my kids can watch grow with their own eyes, and proving that when you combine grit, patience, and purpose, simple ideas can still change big industries.
And this is only the beginning.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not even close. It has been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life. The hard part isn’t just building a machine — it’s building the whole system around it: locations, operations, reliability, customer trust, and a brand… all at the same time.
In April and May of 2024, I was literally driving around day and night knocking on doors — thousands of them — just to get about 15 “yeses” where we could place machines. That was humbling. And even after landing those locations, not all of them worked. Some didn’t have the traffic we expected. Some didn’t sell enough ice to keep the machine at the location. Some looked great on paper but didn’t convert. We had to learn fast, fail fast, and move forward.
On top of that, there’s the pressure that comes with doing something new. Most people think ice is a commodity. They don’t understand our model until they see it. So you’re fighting skepticism, explaining it over and over, and proving it with results.
Then there’s operations. When you own and operate the machines yourself, there’s nowhere to hide. Weather, maintenance, power issues, water, site conditions, bagging systems — you learn quick that the smallest “little” thing can become a big problem if you don’t build discipline around it.
But 2025 was a turning point. We scaled from 15 machines to 36 machines, and the real magic was what we proved over time. We learned our machines are durable — we’re running about 99.9% uptime with very few problems. We proved the demand is real. And we proved something even bigger than demand: people don’t just buy it… they call it out by name. They’ll say, “I’m going to get a bag of Nugget Ice™” or “Where can I get The Good Ice™?” That’s when a commodity starts turning into a brand and we get market pull.
The struggles taught us what works, what doesn’t, and where the real leverage is: better locations, tighter systems, and relentless improvement.
And it’s been encouraging to see the industry start to notice. I was asked to speak at the Automated Retail & Kiosk Show in Tampa recently about the future of automated retail, and we were recently nominated for an Edison Award for innovation — which is a big deal for a business that was basically rebuilt from scratch.
So no, it hasn’t been smooth — but the bigger the challenge, the sweeter the fruit. Every hard lesson has strengthened the foundation. And now we know we’re not guessing anymore. We’ve validated the product, the model, and the brand momentum.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Nugget Ice™?
Nugget Ice™ is a family-run, faith-driven company built around one simple belief: ice doesn’t have to be a commodity—it can be better. We specialize exclusively in Nugget Ice—the chewable, soft, fan-favorite ice our customers have nicknamed The Good Ice™. It’s the same style people seek out at places like Chick-fil-A or Starbucks, but available 24/7 from our own self-serve vending machines.
What sets us apart starts with size and placement.
Our machines are sub-compact—about 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep—which means we can turn almost any sidewalk with power and water into a micro nugget-ice factory. That small footprint matters. It allows placement where traditional ice solutions simply can’t go, and it consistently drives incremental foot traffic to the stores where we’re located. Retail partners see more visits, more add-on purchases, and more repeat customers.
The product itself is different.
People don’t just buy our ice—they drive out of their way for it. Nugget Ice cools drinks faster, lasts longer in coolers, and is gentle on teeth. It’s also the only ice that comfortably fits in the mouth of a water bottle, which sounds small until you realize how often people refill bottles throughout the day. That everyday usability is a big reason the demand is so strong.
We’re also fixing what’s broken in the traditional bagged-ice model.
A typical bag of ice from the big white ice box outside a store is touched by an average of seven different sets of hands before it reaches the consumer—creating real contamination risk. Those freezers run 24/7 and consume significant power. Traditional bagged ice often melts and refreezes multiple times during transport and storage. That process can leave customers with a solid block of ice instead of usable cubes. Many end up slamming the bag on the sidewalk to break it apart — and whatever is on that sidewalk can end up going straight into their cooler. Our machines, by contrast, are not refrigerated like a freezer; they function more like a large, insulated cooler. They use less energy, operate efficiently, and significantly reduce Scope 3 emissions, resulting in a much smaller carbon footprint.
Our ice is made fresh on site, dispensed clean, and ready to use. Built to scale. Built on purpose.
Our machines were designed from day one to be mass-deployable—small, durable, and reliable—with uptime that proves the model works in the real world. Because we own and operate every unit, we’re deeply focused on quality, consistency, and long-term partnerships.
What we’re most proud of, though, is the brand.
We don’t just sell ice. We’re building a lifestyle brand with a cult-like following—one that people talk about, seek out by name, and associate with better experiences. Customers don’t say, “I’m getting a bag of ice.” They say, “I’m getting a bag of Nugget Ice™” or “Where can I find The Good Ice™?”
At its core, Nugget Ice is about rethinking something people take for granted and doing it better—cleaner, smarter, more efficient, and more human. That’s what we want readers to understand: this is a small machine with a big idea, built to change how people experience ice everywhere.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Relentless perseverance paired with humility. You have to be willing to keep showing up when things don’t work, when doors get shut in your face, and when progress feels painfully slow. This journey has required a level of grit and endurance I didn’t fully understand going in. There were long stretches where nothing felt certain except the work that still needed to be done.
At the same time, perseverance without humility can become dangerous. I’ve had to stay coachable—willing to admit when I’m wrong, learn fast, and adjust. Some of our biggest improvements came from mistakes we owned instead of defended.
I also believe deeply in patience and long-term thinking. Real businesses aren’t built overnight. You don’t skip steps, and you don’t cheat the process. Every hard lesson compounds if you stay in the game long enough.
Finally, purpose matters. Knowing why you’re doing something—bigger than money—keeps you grounded when things get tough. For me, that purpose comes from honoring my dad’s legacy, building something my kids can be proud of, and doing business the right way.
That combination—grit, humility, patience, and purpose—is what’s carried me through.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thenuggetice.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nuggeticethegoodice
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinblosser/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@theNuggetIce
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