It seems shocking the idea didn't catch on sooner, but boaters are finally embracing the aquatic drive-thru concept on their local lakes.
In August 2023, Tim Horton's began testing their "boat thru" concept on Lake Skugog in Ontario. Located in the popular cottage hub of the Kawartha Lakes, mariners could boat up to the window to partake in some of Timmy's baked delicacies.
It was a total hit, obviously. Lake Skugog was packed over that August long weekend as boaters, both with cottages on the lake and those who made the journey just for the experience, created line-ups at the boat-thru window.
To our knowledge, no docks were bumped during the melee.
“The summertime Tims Run is an iconic Canadian tradition that’s a must-do when you’re gathering with family and friends. Our summers fly by so quickly and Canadians savour every moment of their long weekends – so we thought why not open our first-ever Tims Boat-Thru so our guests on Lake Skugog don’t miss a minute on the water,”" said Hope Bagozzi, Tim Hortons’ chief marketing officer, at the time.
She was very, very right.
Now an entrepreneur in Kingston, New Brunswick is taking the concept a step further by building an ice cream shack to satisfy nautical adventurers in one of the province's boating hotspots.
In an article by the CBC, local business owner Michael Alton decided to build a 'boat thru' ice cream shack to complement his existing business endeavors. Alton put the entire apparatus together in his driveway.
Immediately after dropping anchor where the Saint John River meets Belleisle Bay, the 'Ice Cream Dock' became an instant hotspot.
"The idea when it started was to build almost like a snack shack, like something I'd see at a baseball diamond when I was a kid. I took all the recycled pieces I had from the lodge and put it together -- the entire build was 75-80% recycled material with the exception of the flags, a few pieces of pressure treat (wood)," Alton told the CBC.
"It kinda started out as 'Pizza Dock' and I couldn't quite my licensing and so on in time. So we kinda morphed it into 'Ice Cream Dock' and I think that's where we're going to stay, at least for now," he added.
Alton told the news outlet that he's lived and worked on the water his whole life. Like many boaters, it wasn't lost on him that there aren't many options for cuisine while underway.
"This is exactly the type of summer I was looking to have," Alton told CBC.
"I wanted to make it look like, you know, like a baseball … snack shack when you were a kid, you know, where you'd go to get a freezie or ice cream at the game," said Alton.
Not only is the Ice Cream Dock built also entirely from recycled materials, it's also almost entirely self-sufficient, using a solar power system and batteries to run nearly everything onboard.
Kingston, New Brunswick has a listed population of only 3200 residents, although you can rightly assume that number ticks up higher during the summer months.
"All of a sudden, now we have, you know, a community of 5,000 people, and it's been nothing but positivity, which is such a breath of fresh air when it comes to the internet," he said.
Even with such a small community, Alton says he sees hundreds of people every Saturday. They come by any means necessary from power boats, to paddleboards, to kayaks and canoes, and anything else that floats. Alton himself sets up some 'floaties' on a nearby beach to allow, and encourage, parched patrons to make the trek across the river.
"Some days we're lined up. Last Saturday we had four or five boats lined up. We've seen them where they race across (laughs). It looks like Mad Max some days (laughs). It's just awesome," he told CBC.
It gets even better -- if you can't make the trip out to Belleisle Bay, Alton has commissioned a team of teens ranging from 10 to 16 year-olds, some of which are his own kids, who will deliver ice cream directly to you on the beach for the paltry fee of $3. The kids get to keep the delivery money.
Alton and his wife operate the Ridgeback Lodge just up the hill from the beach, which offers a rustic log cabin experience or those looking to "experience the joys of glamping." He says many of his guests at the lodge will notice the Ice Cream Dock when they arrive and inquire about how they can reach the floating snack shack.
"We've had people from Denmark, the United States. We've had people from all over New Brunswick and Ontario and Alberta and British Columbia … and places I'm sure I'm missing," he told CBC.
Sadly, summer is ticking away, which means warm summer days at the beach are dwindling. But with all the hubub about the shack, Alton says they'll switch to keeping the place open on weekends as long as possible.
"It's just been an absolute pleasure to see how excited everybody is about just such a simple business."
You can see the Ice Cream Dock and hear Alton's story in the video below:
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