By Franchisee Mary Bigler

• Prior Lake, Minnesota
• Franchisee since May 2002
• Operates 11 mobile event carts and a location at Burnsville Mall

It’s true:  while Minnesota may be cold during the winter months, there is a lot going on indoors and it is actually the highest grossing time of year for my business.  People are always surprised when I tell them we sell more smoothies in January through March than in the summer here in Minnesota!

The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) governs high school sports and activities, and the high school tournaments are a tradition here and well supported by the community.  A large concentration of these tournaments happen February – March.  Everything else takes a backseat in life while we make Maui Wowi happen for tournament attendees.

It started off this year with MSHSL Girls State Hockey on Feb. 19, a four day event at the Xcel Energy Center, with MSHSL Girls Gymnastics running simultaneously Feb. 21-22 at the University of MN.  Then Feb. 27-March 1, we had MSHSL Wrestling at the Xcel Energy Center with MSHSL Boys Swim & Dive at the U of M Aquatic Center.

The biggest one of them all takes place March 5-8; a four day tournament with busloads of marching bands, pep clubs, and hockey fans of all ages rotating through the arenas for the MSHSL Boys State Hockey Tournament, which is held at both the Xcel Center & Mariucci Arena at the U of M .

Sports Illustrated says, “…You don’t have to sell us on the greatness of the Minnesota state high school hockey championship. The pride, the passion, the tradition; it’s all there in the country’s largest scholastic sporting event.”

Check this out for fun and to get a glimpse of the Minnesota hockey culture:  http://nhl.si.com/2014/03/08/minnesota-high-school-all-hockey-hair-team/

We had MSHSL Boys Basketball March 12 -13 and will finish up with Girls State Basketball held at Williams Arena & Mariucci Arena at the U of M March 19 – 22.

It’s been busy! Our sales were up at nearly every tournament and attendees can’t wait to get their hands on our collector tiki cups. Every year they come back for more and look forward to topping off their tikis with our signature smoothies.

Even with back to back tournaments, my Maui Wowi business has even more events going on simultaneously. Since Feb. 19 when the season started, we also managed to pull off eight other college hockey games, the Paul Simon and Sting concert, Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons, and Demi Lovato  concerts, along with a few catering jobs and five Minnesota Wild NHL Hockey games.  We also have the Big 10 Hockey Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center March 20 – 22 and Minnesota Swarm professional Lacrosse games.

It’s a lot.  Some things just won’t get done until we can catch up in April.  The support I receive from family, friends, and fellow franchisees is great. I have a lot of friends & family that help out working during our busy time, and past employees who are home on college break.  Fellow franchisees in the area also help out when they can.

Juggling bananas, managing inventory, scheduling employees, setting up, and doing everything it takes to run the business for this short time span is a challenge, but somehow it all comes together with the help of teamwork.

The best part about working these tournaments is when kids acknowledge us. I hear things like, “Maui Wowi is a tradition for State; I always get a Maui Wowi at State!”  They wave hi as they walk past the carts and to see people so excited about buying a smoothie makes all our hard work pay off.

To stay up-to-date with what events Mary and Maui Wowi will be working next, “Like” Maui Wowi of Minnesota on Facebook!