Saskatoon kid beats the heat with ice business

One Saskatoon kid is taking advantage of the heat wave.

Nine-year-old Emily Kohut, with help from her parents, started Emily’s Ice Delivery.

“I wanted to make some spare money and we had an ice machine in our basement, so me and my parents came up with the idea to start an ice business,” she said.

They started by making ice deliveries at Pickerel Point Resort at Delaronde Lake near Big River.

With a freezer on a trailer that’s hooked to a quad, Emily delivers ice to her customers. She charges $5 for 10 pounds of ice.

“We drive to the person’s place and give the ice to them and then they pay me after,” she explained.

This summer, Emily’s Ice expanded delivery service to Saskatoon.

“At the lake, I do most of the deliveries, but in the city we do it as a family,” she said.

Last summer, she sold approximately 100 bags of ice a month. Now, she sells anywhere from 100 to 200 bags per week.

Her customers include a lacrosse team, a race car driver who needed ice to cool his engine and a doggy daycare that used the ice to cool their pups.

When a couple of customers and businesses needed to keep their beverages cool during a days-long hot stretch, they took freezers full of Emily’s Ice with them to Country Thunder and Ag in Motion.

The Grade 5 student is learning all about running a business and managing money.

With last year’s profits, Emily purchased five freezers, four large Igloo coolers and a new ice machine.

She also pays the power bill for her freezers and pays for the gas for her quad.

Some of the profits she can use for every-day spending, but she’s also saving for a big purchase – a car.

For an order of Emily’s Ice, call or text 306-717-0670.