High-quality craft ice production finds a new home in Dallas

Dallas, Texas - Lux Ice, a company known for its high-quality craft ice, has relocated its main office and manufacturing hub to Flower Mound in Dallas, as per Dallas Metro News.

The new 45,000-square-foot facility highlights Flower Mound's growing business scene. It also opens up the potential for about 100 job opportunities and enables the production of 16 million pounds of Lux's unique spherical ice each year.

Michael Crouse, recently appointed CEO of Lux Ice, shared his vision for the company.

“We envision a day where you go to a restaurant and they ask ‘Would you like regular ice or Lux?’” Crouse commented to Dallas Morning News.

The popularity of this specialty ice is increasing. This trend is evident as LG Electronics now offers features to produce this kind of ice in their fridges. Lux's craft ice is becoming more popular in luxury bars and restaurants. Currently, it can be found in roughly 4,000 retail locations, mainly in the U.S.'s eastern region.

Crouse, with his extensive experience from roles at Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo, began leading Lux Ice this past Tuesday. He outlined a clear growth plan for the company.

“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, and the United States is our first market. We want to be nationwide,” stated Crouse. “But in the future phases of our growth plan, we’re looking to go international as well.”

Earlier in the year, Lux Ice secured $4 million in its Series A funding round. This funding played a key role in their move from Langhorne, Pa., to Texas, as reported by company sources.

Historically, Lux Ice focused on individual consumers. To achieve further growth, CEO Michael Crouse sees the need to expand the company's reach. Lux Ice aims to serve various establishments, from restaurants and clubs to high-end bars and luxury hotels.

“There’s so much more to go both on retail and expanding nationwide into the much larger food service segments of the marketplace,” Crouse mentioned. “The challenge with that is no one has had the manufacturing capability to scale it nationwide. The Lux positioning is to scale craft ice nationwide; that’s why we built our production facility in Flower Mound.”

While Lux’s craft ice is available in 20 states, Texas remains largely unexplored. However, Crouse expects that to change soon. By Thanksgiving, he anticipates the introduction of Lux's ice in Texas, as talks with several retailers across the country progress.

Despite a price range of $5.99 to $6.99 for a six-pack of Lux Ice, Crouse believes there's significant demand ready to be met.

“Most fine-dining restaurants have some type of craft ice in their operations, many of them are trying to make it on their own,” noted Crouse. “But they can’t make the clear sphere that consumers want, it’s still a cloudy block. So that’s why we’re so excited about the opportunity to take an emerging category and explode it with our ability to scale and deliver quality every day.”

Credit: Dallas Metro News