by FELICIA LEDUFF HARRY

“Wow—that’s a great snowball!”

That exclamation is what Brandon Champagne wants to hear from customers at his newly opened snowball stand in Houma. “I know you can get snowballs anywhere, but I want people to love mine,” he says.

Building on his childhood memories of good snowballs and not so good ones, Brandon hopes his customers will come back again and again for the great snowballs at “Champs Snowballs,” which opened on April 1 at the corner of West Park Avenue and Highland Drive, next to Castalano’s Deli, offering 50 flavors of snowballs, including some diet flavors.

“I think we’ve taken the extra steps to make our snowballs great,” Brandon stated. “We’ve brought back the old-fashioned syrup recipes and there is no charge for extra syrup,” he says, because he remembers hating snowballs that were too dry. Brandon also wanted his snowballs to feature fun extras, like real gumballs in the Bubblegum flavored snowball, fruit snacks in the Dora flavor and peanut butter pieces in the E.T. flavor. Other special flavors include the “Arnold Palmer,” named after the golfer’s favorite drink, a mixture of lemonade and iced tea; and the “Brown Cow,” a chocolate snowball with chocolate cream. All the flavors are poured over what Brandon calls “fluffy ice,” an equally important ingredient.

“When it comes to ice,” he says, not only does it have to be fluffy, but “it’s all about the temperature, which has to be just right.”

“I knew what I wanted in my snowball stand,” Brandon says. For instance, he said he brought back the “E.T.” because it was one of his favorites growing up. “I thought like a kid when developing my flavors,” Brandon, 27, says.

Champs Snowballs, named with the first five letters of his last name, is a fun place with a fun, relaxed vibe, not like other snowball stands, according to Brandon. “I wanted my stand to be totally different from any other.” The snowball stand features drive through service. Brandon thinks the location next to the deli is good, because customers can just walk over after eating at the deli. A loyalty card rewards frequent customers with a free snowball after they purchase nine.

In addition to great snowballs, Brandon happily announces the stand offers a “Cajun hot dog,” a wiener cooked in crab boil with very special toppings. They also offer other traditional snack foods like Chili Fritos and nachos.

And, although he’s having fun working in the snowball stand, Brandon says owning it is also a step toward his personal entrepreneurial goals, inspired by the books “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Retire Rich, Retire Young” by Robert Kiyosaki. The books advocate business ownership over working for others as a way to gain wealth. Brandon says it’s also in line with lessons from his father, Bruce, to work hard and his personal motto to “do it right and do it great.” Brandon also owns Champagne Equity Properties, LLC, which currently has rental properties in the Houma area. Brandon stated the snowball stand was a way to start small and move on to bigger things, such as a washateria, in the near future. He has known for a long time that he wanted to own his own business, and started at a young age acquiring rental properties. Brandon has taken a Dale Carnegie course in New Orleans and a business course with Catholic Charities.

Brandon’s family, including his wife of 5 years, Amanda, has been very supportive. “My parents are very involved, they are a tremendous part of my success, they are my backbone,” he says. PoV