FCB Industry History

The Frozen Carbonated Beverage (FCB) industry was born in the summer of 1962 in Coffeyville, Kansas. Dairy Queen franchisee Omar Knedlik had the idea of putting bottles of Coke in his freezer to create a frozen drink. These "coldest drinks in town" delivered the tingling appeal of carbonated soft drinks in a slush-like product that is icy cold, appetizing, and made in an array of bright colors and flavors.

Their popularity inspired Omar to build and patent the first FCB machine in 1964. Omar licensed his invention to the Mitchell Co. of Louisville, KY, which began producing the FCB machines exclusively for a litigious national FCB company in 1965.

By 1967, the Taylor Company, and IMI Cornelius Company were also producing FCB machines. In the early 1970’s, the 7-Eleven convenience store chain purchased nearly 14,000 of these "Slurpee" machines, creating the world’s leading FCB brand. Today, 7-Eleven pours more than 11 million Slurpees a month in the United States and has sold an estimated 5 billion of these frozen treats over the past 30 years.

Liquid Ice was founded in 1998 in Natick, MA by former Coca-Cola executive, Al Del Re, when he purchased a new Taylor 355 FCB dispenser from Taylor of New England in Norwood, MA. Taylor New England became the exclusive supplier of frozen beverage equipment for Liquid Ice as during the early years of Liquid Ice’s expansion.

Liquid Ice found itself among a group of regional "slush" firms, specifically targeting the frozen beverage category. Such firms include Slush Puppie, (acquired by a litigious national FCB company in 2005), Parrot Ice, Chilly Willie, and Island Oasis.

In an effort to diversify and differentiate, Liquid Ice expanded into icemaker, and soda fountain services, and today is the only regional slush company that also offers icemaker and soda fountain services alongside frozen carbonated beverage, frozen non-carbonated beverage service and supplies.