After parting ways with previous business partners on a venture, Jason Kashtan wasn’t sure what his next move was. After a few weeks of decompressing, he joked to his wife, Miyu, about “going back to basics” and opening a lemonade stand on the side of the road.
“The moment I said it, I realized, ‘That’s not a bad idea,’” he says.
Kashtan has lived on Maui for about 30 years, but is originally from the East Coast. He explains their version of “shave ice” was Italian ice and frozen lemonade.
“Maui has incredible shave ice — Ululani’s — and great ice cream from Roselani, but frozen lemonade wasn’t really a thing here,” he says. “I thought if I could make shave ice the way I remembered it as a kid — simply with real fruit, water and cane sugar, but use local lemons and make things a little less sweet to keep it refreshing — it could walk a different path from ice cream and shave ice.”
Inspired, Kashtan partnered with a friend to start this new business venture. He said they kept things simple — frozen lemonade, one size only, and at a community-centered price point.
In line with a simple product, Kashtan knew he wanted to keep the business name straightforward, as well. As an entrepreneur, Kashtan has had several small businesses, but acknowledges that his own concepts and designs have created brands that needed “too much explaining.” He didn’t want that to be the case for Maui Frozen.
“I was going to use ‘Maui’ in the name — something that I always thought was an easy way out,” he says. “But I finally succumbed to the fact that it works. And since we are here first and foremost for the Maui community, it made sense.
“Although vague and presenting its own challenges, ‘frozen’ — not Italian ice, not shave ice — allows the brand to go in multiple different directions, which has been helpful.”
Kashtan planned to purchase a few ice cream carts for the lemonade concept, but immediately ran into issues.
“Some of Maui’s rules and regulations weren’t going to allow me to operate the carts in the way that I had planned,” Kashtan says. “Making adjustments required by the county was going to be costly and take too much time to get up and running.”
Kashtan pivoted and started shopping around for a food truck, but found that many were too big or pricey for his business's needs. He remembers starting to look for options on the Mainland and considered shipping a food truck here. Then, he came across a 1978 Chevy P30 StepVan that was for sale 3 miles away in Kīhei.
“I loved the look of the truck, as it fit the retro vibe I had envisioned for the brand since day one,” Kashtan says. “Although still expensive, it was much closer to my budget."
Maui Frozen’s food truck opened in December 2024. Reflecting on the business’s early days, Kashtan says that being mobile was essential in building the Maui Frozen brand. They initially gave away a lot of free product, just to get people to try it.
“People weren’t searching for ‘frozen lemonade’ — they looked for shave ice and ice cream — so being able to bring our product and service to where people were already gathered was critical," he says.
As the business started to gain traction, Kashtan realized it was time to add multiple flavors. POG was the business’s second flavor, then came a strawberry li hing topping.
“Suddenly, the mission became continue to keep things crazy simple, but add flavors that were familiar but different,” he says. “The goal was to refine the product to have a consistency different from anything else out there, and monitor the sugar to keep things refreshing.”
Kashtan says his wife — who was born and raised in Fukushima, Japan — was an important part of recipe development and the business’s R&D stage.
“She doesn’t enjoy anything too sweet,” he explains. “As we were coming up with flavors, she would always say, ‘Less sugar, less sugar.’ When she was finally happy with the amount of sugar I was using, I increased it by 7% — it was literally a guess, ‘lucky 7’ — and that became our recipe. It’s another critical piece in setting us apart from others in the industry.”
All of the business’s flavors do not feature any dyes, flavorings or extracts, or high fructose corn syrup. Keeping fruit as the star was Kashtan’s main objective.
“We aren’t always the most Instagrammable product; there’s no red or blue dye to make things pop," he says. "But we’re finding other ways to present the product in a fun way, mostly through our amazing local community, who visit and fill our world with personality.”
For the most part, the Maui Frozen food truck was usually located in Makena, according to Kashtan. The biz also opened for private parties and popped up at different events around town.
“Looking back, that’s what introduced us to the community, and that’s what sustained us,” Kashtan says.
About a year into the business, Kashtan and his business partner realized they had similar goals, but “vastly different ways of getting there,” and ultimately realized they weren’t aligned in the necessary ways to move the business forward. They decided to part ways; Kashtan started doing everything on his own. At a point, though, as the business grew more popular, Miyu and their daughter often came to help.
“At one point, it got to be too much and we weren’t really ready to hire employees, so my wife left her job and was suddenly a business owner again,” Kashtan says. “It wasn’t part of our plan, but it was part of God’s plan.
“Maui Frozen would absolutely not be the same without her … and I would have gone crazy,” he adds.
Opening a storefront was never part of Kashtan’s plan. But as the business started growing, Kashtan started looking around for a small commercial production kitchen that would allow him to produce all of the products and park the van.
“(At the time,) I was renting a production space form a friend of mine, and started to worry if I was being a burden, taking up so much space,” he explains.
When the Island Surf building in Kīhei — located across from Kalama Park and Cove Park, according to Kashtan — was nearing the completion of its renovation, Kashtan reached out to a realtor friend to see if the property owner would be open to splitting a unit and renting him the back side.
“Logistically, that didn’t really make sense for them, but she suggested I look at a space available on the side of the building facing Maui Wave Riders,” Kashtan says. “I did; I liked it a lot, but something was giving me pause. I was nervous to commit.”
A few months went by. One day, an operational challenge prompted Kashtan to contact his friend again about the Island Surf Building. She told him there was another frozen treat concept that was planned for a space in front of the building, but the plans fell through. She suggested Kashtan meet her at the space to have a look.
“The vibe was awesome, bustling with surfers paddling out at the Cove, the surf school in full swing, families crossing the street with surfboards," Kashtan remembers. "People were playing volleyball and enjoying the park.
“I felt so good — like I did when I first moved to Maui almost 30 years ago,” he adds. “There was something beautiful, nostalgic and very ‘Maui’ about the vibe. I had no idea how I was going to make it work, but I immediately knew Maui Frozen found its first permanent home."
Maui Frozen offers three simple desserts in multiple variations. Its Maui slush — which Kashtan describes as “light, smooth and refreshing” — is made from real fruit, purified water and cane sugar.
“Sticking to our familiar-but-different philosophy, two of our items are hybrids of multiple experiences, but done simply in a way that makes you feel like they’ve been here all along,” Kashtan says.
He explains he originally wanted to call the dessert something different, but the name “slush” stuck.
“I (originally) hated the name ‘slush;’ it sounded so cheap," he says. "But then, as I would explain what the dessert is, I would end up using the phrase ‘like slush,’ and customers understood. ‘Slush’ is something familiar, but calling it ‘Maui slush’ indicates that it was made for this environment.”
Maui slush treats come in flavors like lemonade — the original — Hami melon, mango, lychee and coconut coffee. Customers can add on toppings like strawberry li hing and OG li hing mui for 50 cents more.
“On the truck, we could only keep three flavors,” Kashtan says. “Having the shop is nice because we can do more (flavors). People always ask me, ‘What’s the most popular flavor?’ They all sell about the same; maybe lemonade is still the most popular, but everything else is close.
“My go-to is the lemonade because it’s nostalgic for me,” he adds. “That’s still my favorite, but I like the melon because it’s crazy refreshing.”
Kashtan says since real fruits are used to make the flavors, POG has bits of orange peel in it.
“We chop up the (fruit) skin and put it back inside (the flavor), so you have little bits of freshness,” he says. “Some people pull it out and wonder what it is, but it’s totally intentional.”
Usually six slush flavors are available, but customers who follow Maui Frozen’s Instagram will know when the biz has a seasonal special. The biz also has a coconut flavor (separate from the coconut coffee listed on the menu).
“We recently did a Japanese whiskey with miso caramel ribbon,” Kashtan says. “People are always asking, ‘Do you do just coconut?’ We did and it ended up being a hit. I didn’t like the way it looked on the menu — because there’s already coconut coffee, it looked redundant — but we have it here, if somebody asks for it.
“One of the things that we did turned out to be a hit — our coconut coffee slush with our pineapple scoop ice on top,” he adds. “It’s almost like pina colada style. The li hing mui syrup (on top) is super good.”
Kashtan says the pineapple ice was added to Maui Frozen’s menu about four months after the storefront opened. When the store first opened, the business was busy, since they already had a following from the truck.
“I was playing around with the idea of doing ice cream — sticking to what I knew from Boston, but tweaking it to fit Maui," Kashtan remembers. "I thought, ‘If I can do that, but play with the texture a bit and make it not so sweet …'”
The result: pineapple ice, Maui Frozen’s twist on ice cream. It’s made with pineapple, purified water, cane sugar and whole milk, according to Kashtan.
“The whole milk gives it that creamy mouthfeel, but it doesn’t sit heavy on your palate like ice cream does,” he explains. “It scoops a little like sherbet, but it’s different. You have to taste it to understand.
“Our Maui slush and scoop ice are not as sweet as shave ice, and not as heavy as ice cream,” he adds. “It’s its own thing designed for life on Maui. You can enjoy it in the middle of the day and not feel terrible after eating it.”
The pineapple ice is available in three sizes ($4.75 regular, $8.75 double scoop, $16.75 pint) and in three flavors. Choose from original, torched and berry; all three flavors start with the same base, Kashtan notes.
“For the torched flavor, I caramelize some pineapple in a pan,” he explains. “I cool it down, and once it’s cool, I hit it with a kitchen torch. It gets smoky and sweet, with little bits of pineapple. The berry has little bits of strawberry in it.”
The frozen banana was added to the menu after Kashtan was in the kitchen one day, making dessert for his wife and daughter. They suggested that he add frozen bananas to the menu; once he did, Kashtan realized the treats were "nostalgia on a stick."
The bananas ($4.75 each) are currently dipped in the business’s dark and milk chocolate blend, and finished with either Maldon salt or roasted peanuts. Customers can also opt for the business’s Dubai flavor ($6), which is dipped in the business’s blend of milk and dark chocolates, then rolled in kataifi for crunch and finished with a pistachio cream.
“Nothing we do is too sweet, including our frozen bananas,” Kashtan says of the treat.
In terms of pricing, keeping the products “community forward” has been important to Kashtan from day one. A regular-size Maui Slush, scoop ice or frozen banana is $4.75 each.
“We occasionally get asked if we offer a kamaʻāina discount,” he says. “We work super hard to keep our prices where they are — a regular Maui slush is $4.75 for everybody, every day. Keeping prices affordable has always been important to us.”
Maui slush is also available in an extra-large size ($16.75), but Kashtan notes this is a 32-ounce tub portion.
Whether it’s keeping Maui Frozen accessible to everyone or maintaining a quality product, Kashtan says keeping the community as the business’s focus is essential.
“Maui Frozen is not just a frozen treat spot,” he says. “We try to be thoughtful about everything we do, and we genuinely want to create memorable moments for our guests; they are the reason we do this.”
The business’s counter is filled with photos of people and guests who “make our day brighter,” according to Kashtan, who says the biz also includes a retro arcade system for kids to enjoy.
“A guest once told us, ‘Maui Frozen is like a neighborhood bar without the booze,’” he says. “I love that.”
At the time of our visit, Maui Frozen’s store had been open for eight months. Since the business never did an official grand opening event, Kashtan says the biz might do a one-year anniversary celebration.
“Maui Frozen is truly a vibe,” he adds. “It’s about the people, the community; what we serve is secondary.”
CONTACT
Maui Frozen
1993 South Kīhei Road Ste. 6, Kīhei
808-309-4738
Instagram: @mauifrozen
Open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (open until 6:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays)
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
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