Robbie Harrell, CEO of Minnesota Ice, on embracing the Minnesota winters

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Someone who thinks of Minnesota Ice as a company that sells frozen water is sort of missing the point, according to Robbie Harrell, the company’s CEO. From ice sculptures to craft cocktail cubes to life-size ice block mazes, Minnesota Ice’s products are innovative in their design and function. 

“You think of it as, ‘Oh, it’s just freezing water.’ It’s so much more than that. I’ve somehow managed to get into a complicated business where you take this raw material you get out of a spigot. You freeze it using these expensive machines, and then you have to store it in a very expensive room that stays below freezing,” Harrell says on this episode of the Off the Record podcast. 

Harrell shares more about the company’s origins and what it’s doing to “embrace the winter” in Minnesota through ice mazes and more special events with hosts Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank, and Jen Hellman, CEO of Goff Public. 

Listen to the episode to learn more about: 

• Harrell’s first job frying cheese curds at the state fair (3:18)
• Coming to learn who you want to work with and who you don’t (6:24)
• Business serendipity on a flight to Texas (8:41)
• Minnesota Ice’s big break with the Super Bowl (16:26)
• How ice events came to be (20:54)
• Where you’ll find Harrell on a Saturday morning (33:36)

Leaders like Harrell understand the value of moving quickly and acting creatively, just like Platinum Bank. Learn more about business banking with a different kind of bank.