SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — Sharon Thompson knows what to expect when out-of-town customers pull up at Cajun Daiquiris.
Thompson, who has worked at the business for 16 years, has seen the reaction many times.
“They can’t believe that we have a drive-through daiquiri shop,” Thompson said. “Most of the time, people from out of town when they show up, they’re like shocked that we have a drive-through daiquiri shop or a drive-through liquor store. They’re just in awe that that happens.”
Shreveport may be known for the Louisiana Hayride or the Independence Bowl or even casino gambling. But to the party crowd, Shreveport is remembered for drive-through daiquiris.
The shops have been a fixture in Shreveport for four decades. Their future could be affected by everything from saturation to city ordinances.
While most point to Lafayette as the site of origin for drive-through daiquiri shops, the real birthplace may actually be Ruston.
That’s because the founder of the first drive-through daiquiri shop in Lafayette, David Ervin, dreamed of the idea of such a business while he was a forestry student at Louisiana Tech.
During his days at Tech, he once left Lincoln Parish to go to a bar. The owner wanted to get rid of some cocktails, so the drinks were poured in a slushy machine and partially frozen. The drinks were popular and Ervin’s mind began to work. The result? The concept for what would be drive-through daiquiri shops.
He first tried the concept in 1981 in Lafayette. His business wasn’t a bar nor was it a package store. And at the time, Louisiana was one of 24 states that did not prohibit drinking alcohol and driving. This was just enough of an opening for Ervin’s business to open and thrive.
One year later, Lafayette banned open containers, but Ervin’s Daiquiri Factory responded with a Styrofoam cup with a plastic lid held in place by a piece of tape. To this day, daiquiri shops use tape to close the lid. Legally, if the tape over the straw hold is on the lid, the drink is not considered to be an open container. If the tape is removed or broken, it is considered an open container and subject to open container laws.
Despite early challenges, his first shop was so popular he expanded to other locations around Lafayette.
It wasn’t long before daiquiri shops were opening up around the state. Daiquiri Express opened in Shreveport in 1987. Cajun Daiquiris opened just a few years later.
The shops remain popular with more opening around the area. Those openings, though, have led to a possible saturation point.
“We are saturated enough,” Thompson said. “In the location we’re in right now (3306 Youree Drive), within a six-block radius there are six to eight businesses that sell the alcohol or daiquiris.”
Thompson said she doesn’t want to deprive anyone of their business, but she said any potential new daiquiri businesses should take a hard look at the market.
“Unless you really have competitive pricing, that really makes it harder for the ones that are already established,” she said.
Besides saturation, there could be a limit on the business’ hours of operation.
Shreveport City Councilman John Nickelson introduced an ordinance in October that would amend a section of the Code of Ordinances regarding hours of operation for retail dealers of alcohol. The current closing time on the books is 4 a.m. Nickelson’s proposal is to change the closing time to 9 p.m.
Nickelson understands his proposed closing time may not be approved by the City Council next week.
“I do not anticipate, based on my conversations with my colleagues on the Council, the ordinance I introduced with a 9 p.m. closing time will pass,” Nickelson said. “But there will be some compromise between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. I do not yet know what that will be.”
Currently, Cajun Daiquiris lists its closing times as 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. on Sundays. Daiquiri Express closes at 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, midnight on Friday and Saturday and 8 p.m. on Sunday. Frosty Express closes at 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, midnight on Friday and Saturday and it is closed on Sunday.
Those closing times are already closer to 9 p.m. than 4 a.m.
Nickelson’s compromise is aimed more at the ordinance already on the books allowing those whose primary business commodity is the sale of alcohol to remain open until 4 a.m.
“If it’s moved back to, say, 11 p.m., that may not have a big impact on presently existing stores,” he said. “But it would prevent stores in the future from opening and remaining open until the middle of the night or early in the morning.”
By Associated Press reporter Scott Ferrell
