24 Frozen Food Business Ideas You Can Start Today [2023]
Are you looking for the most profitable frozen food business ideas?
The demand for frozen foods has shown an upward trajectory and experts estimate the trend will continue over the next years.
Whether you are looking for a side hustle or you want to switch to self-employment, a frozen goods business might be able to set that in motion.
To help you establish a successful frozen products business, we searched the internet and interviewed successful entrepreneurs within the niche to find out their secrets to success.
In this post, we present the most profitable frozen food business ideas, together with real-world examples and advice from successful frozen product business owners.
Here's the full list:
1. Start a seafood sales business
Starting a frozen food business specializing in seafood is a fantastic business venture.
The global demand for aquatic foods will double in the next few years.
Finfish, pelagic fish, cods, salmonids, crabs, shrimp, krill, prawns, and lobster are among the highly in-demand sea foods.
To start your frozen fish products business, conduct market research to understand the current industry trends. Focus on how each vendor performs and find out the highly in-demand products.
Then, decide to source your frozen seafood from suppliers, or you will do the food processing. Analyze the costs of both options to determine the most optimal. Finally, apply for the food handling permits and licenses, and begin marketing your frozen goods business.
My name is Cameron and I am the name and co-founder behind Cameron’s Seafood. We catch, cook, chill, pack, and ship Maryland Crabs and crab cakes to your doorstep (to all 50 states) on a date you choose. Our food is made daily and shipped fresh, not frozen in less than 24 hours.
- I love taking old businesses and adding technology to help them reach their potential. My cousin and I run the home delivery business and plan to hit $20,000,000 by year 3.
2. Open an ice cream parlour
Ice cream is something that people of all ages equally enjoy globally, making it a profitable business to venture into.
This frozen dessert industry has registered massive growth in recent years, a trend that shows the industry’s potential.
If you are looking to start your ice cream business, follow these steps:
- Decide whether to make your ice cream or to source from established ice cream brands
- Write an effective business plan for the ice cream shop detailing the goals, strategies, and plans
- Fund your business idea
- Choose a spacious shop in an area with plenty of foot traffic
- Offer different ice cream flavors
Opening an ice cream parlor is not easy work. However, if you do it right, it is rewarding and can be a lot of fun.
Hello! My name is Stephen Layton and I am one of the founding members of The Good Scoop located in the greater Sacramento region. We make all of our own ice cream in house using fresh local and all-natural ingredients.
Some of our best selling and most popular flavors include our banana, rosewater, lavender, and salted cookies and cream. We use fresh seasonally available ingredients, so we use peaches in the summertime and apples in the fall. Some of our more interesting flavors include horchata, honey wasabi, peppermint bark, and olive oil.
3. Start a smoothie business
Smoothie is a blend of whole fruits containing bananas, yogurt, honey, ice cream, and other ingredients.
Smoothie businesses attract health-conscious consumers, and their mass appeal has grown tremendously.
In the US alone, smoothie bars are a 3-billion-dollar industry. Therefore, starting your smoothie business can be a great idea from an entrepreneur’s standpoint. To start your smoothie bar, consider an ideal location, and ensure a proper shop format. The alternative smoothie shop formats include:
- Dine in Plenty of seating space: customers order and pay at the counter.
- Window only: Serves takeaway smoothies with customers ordering and paying at the counter
- Food truck: Mobile smoothie shop allowing you to connect with a more extensive customer
The rising popularity of healthy juices and the low startup cost makes the smoothie industry an appealing frozen food business idea.
Hi there. I’m Jen Hansard, the co-founder of Simple Green Smoothies where we create plant-powered recipes that gives you the energy and health to fuel your passion. It all started on Instagram in 2012, yet over the years (and with a LOT of hustle and luck) it has exploded into a brand of best-selling plant-based recipe books, live community cleanses, adventure retreats and the #1 green smoothie app in iTunes, Daily Blends. Since 2012, Simple Green Smoothies has helped over 2 million people take control of their health in a tasty and simple way.
Our programs can bring in as much as $30,000 a month in revenue, which helps me pay our staff, expenses and also allows us to help women farmers in Cambodia build mushroom farms through World Hope International. Click here to learn more.
4. Start a fresh farm produce business
The fresh farm produces business is a fast-growing one. Starting a fresh farm produce business can be an exciting and profitable adventure if you are prepared. Everyone loves fresh food. Healthy foods are never out of fashion.
Listed are the steps to start a fresh farm produce business.
- Plan your business
- Secure permits and licenses needed
- Get financed
- Hire staffs
- Find a client and promote your business
- Nate Dodson, is an urban farmer and the man behind MicroGreens Farmer. His objectives are to combat Crohn's disease and exert more control over the diet.
- Since the business was founded in 2016, they have assisted individuals in starting their own microgreens-related businesses.
- He initially only intended to grow for his own consumption, but soon realized that he could produce more than he could consume. As a result, he began to sell his produce, particularly microgreens, and thus his business got started.
Read the full story on sidehustlenation.com ➜
5. Make a frozen yogurt dog treats
Approximately 68 to 70% of Americans own dogs. In addition, the dog food and snacks market is estimated to reach over 96 billion in the coming years.
Frozen yogurt dog treats are a profitable business idea if you can find the right clients. You can sell the dog treats as a home-based business, online on sites like Etsy and amazon, or create your own eCommerce business.
If you are starting a frozen yogurt dog treats business, ensure you find quality ingredients that promote dog health. In addition, ensure enough supplies, and market the products appropriately.
6. Start a vegan ice cream business
Starting a vegan ice cream business is a great way to tap into the growing demand for plant-based options. To do this, you will need to source ingredients such as coconut, almond, and soy milk as base ingredients and various flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.
You will also need to invest in equipment such as an ice cream maker, freezers, and containers for storing and serving the ice cream. In addition, you will need to consider marketing and branding efforts and finding a suitable location to sell your vegan ice cream.
To run a successful business, it is essential to focus on creating high-quality, delicious products that appeal to a wide range of customers and to have a solid online presence and engage with customers through social media and other marketing efforts.
Overall, starting a vegan ice cream business is a rewarding and exciting venture that allows you to positively impact the environment and contribute to the growing demand for plant-based options.
7. Start a frozen sushi business
Hi, my name is Jimmy Liang and I’m the Founder/CEO/Chef of JP Fuji Group.
After becoming the head sushi chef at a local sushi restaurant, I, along with my best friend and partner Peter Tse, opened our first Fuji Restaurant in 1998. We’ve grown from a 119 seater sushi restaurant to a restaurant group with 9 locations generating annual sales of $20 million.
8. Start a salad bar business
There is nothing better than a delicious healthy salad served first. If you love trying different creative salads, starting your salad bar can be a significant business venture. According to statistics, healthy fast food is a booming industry. With more people choosing a healthy eating lifestyle, the demand for healthy salads has increased tremendously.
Therefore, you may want to start your salad bar focusing on the health-conscious population. To start, find a reliable supply of fresh salads and ensure a strategic location for your business. then, advertise your business widely so you can reach as many customers as possible.
9. Start a vegetable farm
Do you have some idle land and are willing to start a vegetable business?
Mushrooms, micro greens, ginseng, lavender, and bonsai plants are some profitable vegetables you can grow and sell.
10. Start a soup business
11. Start a snack food kiosk
A snack kiosk is a small to medium-sized booth for holding, preparing, and selling confectionery, quick-service food, and beverages. If you plan to start a snack food kiosk, identify a strategic location with high traffic.
Selling high-quality snack foods will help you attract more customers and retain them.
12. Start a packaging box making business
13. Start a frozen salad bar
14. Start a fruit butters and cheese business
Fruit butter and cheese is a unique and growing business opportunity for entrepreneurs. The process involves taking fresh fruit and pureeing it into a spreadable consistency, similar to jams or jellies. However, fruit butter is typically made with less sugar and is cooked for a longer period of time, giving it a deeper and more concentrated flavor.
Cheese is also a popular product in the fruit butter and cheese business. This can include soft and creamy cheeses made with fruit purees and harder and more aged options. The key to success in this business is sourcing high-quality ingredients and experimenting with different flavor combinations to stand out in the market.
To run a successful fruit butter and cheese business, it is important to focus on the following tips:
Research the market: Understanding your target audience and competitors is crucial for success. Research local farmers’ markets and specialty food stores to get a feel for what products are already available and what gaps in the market you can fill.
Source top-quality ingredients: The quality of your fruit and cheese will directly affect the quality of your products. Invest in fresh, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
Experiment with flavor combinations: Don’t be afraid to try new and unique flavor combinations. Consider using unusual fruits or pairing fruit with complementary flavors like herbs or spices.
Invest in proper packaging: Attractive packaging is important for attracting customers and protecting your products. Invest in high-quality containers and labels to stand out on store shelves.
Build a strong brand: Building a strong brand is essential for success in any business. This includes creating a cohesive brand image, developing a strong social media presence and consistently delivering top-quality products to customers.
Following these tips, entrepreneurs can successfully launch and grow a fruit butter and cheese business. This business can be a profitable and fulfilling venture with a focus on quality ingredients, innovative flavor combinations, and strong branding.
15. Start a snail farming business
Snail farming is one of the easiest, less involved, and most profitable agriculture-related businesses you can start today. With the current growth in the popularity of healthy eating, marketing snail products is easier.
More people are switching to snails as a source of essential nutrients, a trend that has created a bigger opportunity for snail farmers worldwide.
Therefore, starting a snail farm today can be a lucrative business opportunity. Unlike livestock production and subsistence farming, you do not need a huge piece of land to farm snails.
Depending upon the type of snail farming system you intend to use, some materials you will need will include free-range pens, mosquito nets, hatch boxes, trench pens, and moveable pens.
16. Start a fruit snacks business
17. Start a sliced onions business
18. Start a drive-thru dairy business
19. Start a mobile frozen food store business
20. Start a pizza store
The global pizza market share is expected to reach $5138 Billion, and the market growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 6.11%. One of the key factors driving growth in the pizza markets is the availability of innovative and exotic flavored pizzas, which drives are more prominent among the millennials.
Moreover, the growing desire for convenience foods and customization of food products will facilitate the pizza market growth. Therefore, starting a pizza store in 2023 can be a profitable business venture. To start, find an attractive location where your business will be visible to customers.
21. Start a pet food and supplies supermarket business
22. Start a frozen food equipment business
23. Start a frozen foods business
Gail Becker established Caulipower after she realized there were no viable choices for pre-made cauliflower crust pizza.
Gail, the creator, and CEO of Caulipower abandoned her prominent corporate career in May 2016 to launch a frozen food company focusing on gluten-free crusts. She is now worth $245 million at the age of 57.
She went all in, bootstrapped her startup, and unlike other businesses, engaged advisors to teach her about the food sector. Becker had many criticizing friends and coworkers, but she never gave up.
Her professional background includes journalism, government work, and marketing. She has worked at Edelman, Warner Bros., and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Caulipower amassed extra funding to accommodate greater ingredient purchases and higher-scale manufacturing runs, despite having $5 million in revenue in its first year.
This Los Angeles-based company generated an estimated $100 million in revenue. The company's goods are available in 25,000 retailers, including Target and Kroger, and it controls more than half of the still-small cauliflower pizza crust segment in U.S. grocery stores.
Here are some top secrets to Gail's successful entrepreneurship journey:
- Do not be afraid to admit what you do not know.
- Hire smart people around you to help.
- Figure which rules to break and which ones to follow
- Do things differently and challenge other people's advice.
24. Start a Poultry Farming Business
Poultry farming is a business that involves raising chickens and other birds to sell eggs. It is a very simple and easy business to start. You can even do it in your backyard.
Poultry farming is one of the world’s most lucrative businesses, especially selling eggs and meat. Anyone can start this business. You only need to invest in a place to keep the poultry, which you can rent or buy.
A farmer who raises poultry will have a steady income from his business. About 60% of chicken farmers earned household incomes that exceeded the U.S.-wide median, with the top 20% making an average of $142,000 per year.
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
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