Start An Ice Cream Wholesaler - Business Ideas

Pat Walls

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Updated: September 15th, 2022

Start An Ice Cream Wholesaler - Business Ideas

Start An Ice Cream Wholesaler

Starting an ice cream wholesaler requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell ice cream wholesale , or selling ice cream wholesale online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start an ice cream wholesaler ➜

Key Stats

starting costs

$53.3K

gross margin

40%

avg product price

$28

time to build

180 days

Startup Costs

	Min Startup Costs	Max Startup Costs
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	$66	$700
Retail Business Expenses	$1,250	$11,650
Inventory Expenses	$350	$14,750
Food Business Expenses	$2,125	$36,000
Software Expenses	$162	$3,094
Advertising & Marketing Costs	$75	$5,286
Total Startup Costs	$10,002	$106,447

See all startup costs ➜

Successful Businesses

Business	URL	Rank
Amys Ice Creams	amysicecreams.com	#495,655
The Ice Cream Club	icecreamclub.com	#1,853,796
rhino	rhinofoods.com	#2,493,359
Harlan's	harlans.us	#3,607,864
Burge's	smokedturkeys.com	#5,526,470
Snoqualmie IceCream	snoqualmieicecream.com	#5,746,916
Greenwood Ice Cream	greenwoodicecream.com	#6,237,820

See all businesses ➜

Pros & Cons

Pros	Description
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.
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.
Meaningful business connections	You never know who you will meet as a ice cream wholesaler. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!
High customer retention rates	Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.
High margins	The gross margins for your ice cream wholesaler are typically around 40%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily.
Unlimited income potential	With starting an ice cream wholesaler there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make.

See all pros ➜

Cons	Description
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.
Low margins	The gross margins for your ice cream wholesaler are typically around 40%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.
High employee turnover	In the ice cream wholesaler, 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.
Taxes	As a ice cream wholesaler, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.
High overhead expenses	With starting an ice cream wholesaler, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.
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](https://www.thebalancesmb.com/do-i-need-to-collect-sales-taxes-in-my-state-398913)

See all cons ➜

Marketing Ideas

1

Word of mouth

Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.

Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.

According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
2

Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.

According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.

Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.
3

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.