Office Space Expenses

$0

$7,000

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$352

Website Costs

$223

$7,215

Business Formation Fees

$5,600

$20,400

Equipment & Supply Expenses

$63

$200

Food Business Expenses

$2,125

$36,000

Retail Business Expenses

$1,250

$6,650

Software Expenses

$162

$3,094

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$4,786

Inventory Expenses

$50

$4,000

Total Startup Costs

$9,699

$89,697

Cold Stone Creamery

coldstonecreamery.com

110,718

Jeni's

shop.jenis.com

111,151

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

benjerry.co.uk

228,979

Nick's Ice Cream

nicks.com

264,259

Yasso

yasso.com

295,891

HALO TOP

halotop.com

304,080

Häagen-Dazs® Ice Cream, Bars and Sorbet

haagendazs.us

316,070

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

vanleeuwenicecream.com

334,717

Graeter's Ice Cream

graeters.com

379,968

Rebel Ice Cream

rebelcreamery.com

400,976

Handel's Ice Cream

handelsicecream.com

521,184

Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

Rewarding work

Starting a ice cream business can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about.

Scalable

With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers.

High margins

The gross margins for your ice cream business are typically around 40%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily.

Quick build time

The average time it takes to build your product is quick - typically around 9 months. This will allow you to bring your product to market faster.

Daily physical activity

Ice Cream Business's typically involve a much greater degree of movement than other lines of work. Most days, you will spend your day walking, running errands for your business, and performing a multitude of tasks. This can have a positive impact on energy levels and your overall health.

Crowded Space

Competition is high when it comes to your ice cream business, so it's important that you spend a good amount of time analyzing the market and understanding where the demand lies.

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A ice cream business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

High employee turnover

In the ice cream business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.

You may need to charge sales tax

If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out this article

Work can be repetitive

You may find creating the same product over and over repetitive and tiresome. One way of avoiding this is to diversify product lines and revenue streams - this will keep things interesting!