When most people think of a reliable and flexible business, they don’t think of ice cream. But, owning an ice cream stand can be one of the best businesses to own right now. You can move to wherever the demand is greatest, and that is one of the biggest advantages you have. From setup to marketing, here’s what you need to know.
Getting Started
Getting started in the ice cream business is unlike getting started in a lot of other businesses. it only requires about $10,000 and a little bit of your time. From the ice cream stand itself to custom ice cream cups and even the raw materials, you don’t have to go in for $100,000 – and that’s why it’s so attractive.
The business can also be run on a part-time basis because ice cream sales typically only occur for half the year – summertime. The other half of the year, you may not make much, if any, money.
The Profit Potential
The profit potential in ice cream is surprisingly high. Many businesses find that they can generate profits in excess of $50,000 in just three or four months. If you’re willing to work an additional two months, you may be able to squeeze out an additional $5,000 or $10,000. That means, for a few months worth of work, you can make a full-time income. Amazing.
Marketing
Marketing an ice cream stand is important. Unlike many other businesses, your business is very dependent on the weather. When it’s hot outside, people come in droves for ice cream. When it rains, or when it’s cold, sales drop off a cliff. So, these types of businesses tend to do very well in the south, or in regions where summer is an extended season compared to other seasons.
Marketing usually consists of a press release to get things going, but is often driven by word of mouth advertising. Sometimes, some ice cream stands market using postcards or neighborhood fliers to announce when they will be setting up shop for a particular day or week.
You could also use T.V. advertisements or local online advertising, as more and more people are now using mobile devices to find local businesses they want to do business with. Local ads, like those that can be implemented through Facebook or FourSquare, can really boost an ice cream stand’s revenues – especially if the stand is located in a larger city where more people are using mobile apps to find local businesses.
Finally, don’t discount the old-fashioned method of playing music, or using the cart or stand itself, as an advertisement. If you’ve placed yourself in a high-traffic area, you’ll get a lot of sales just from this tactic alone.
Expansion
When it comes time to expand your business, all you really need to do is pump more money into advertising and scale up your business with employees and possibly additional carts. In other words, you just replicate what’s already working. Training employees to dish out ice cream and take orders isn’t all that difficult. Likewise, putting up additional stands isn’t hard. It just requires money.
Melinda Morrison used to run an ice cream stand business. Although retired now, she likes to remember the fun days of selling the frozen treat. Look for her interesting posts on a variety of business and food industry websites online.