For over 35 years Sentry Equipment has been involved in the ice cream/frozen dessert industry . With this experience we have helped thousands of customers achieve success as individual ice cream shops. Our most successful customers always have something in common.
They make their own brand!
Our customers that achieve the greatest success are the ones who also create a unique and engaging brand. They do this by making their own core product – whether it be an Italian Ice, homemade ice cream or gelato product.
Creating your own brand allows your store to be different than your competition and you can create flavors and products only your store will carry.
What are the benefits of making your own ice cream brand?
- Get on the homemade bandwagon! Homemade or craft products are huge in the food industry in 2017. The food industry has transitioned from processed product and convenience items to quality handcrafted and homemade products. So it important to capture this audience at this particular time and watch the profits increase.
- Your sales will instantly grow and increase by promoting and selling a homemade hand crafted product. Frozen dessert stores see a 10-25% increase in ice cream/water ice sales when going from wholesale to homemade.
- Creating a novelty line! This helps with branding and allows your store to have another source of profits besides just the over the counter products. One advantage of setting up a novelty product line is you can select what products you want to sell and brand them how you see fit. Some of these items include cakes, pints, quarts, pies, sandwiches, etc.
- Growing your brand and producing products helps increase your reputation. Having novelty products with your logo and unique product allows your store to stay on your customers mind even when they have no intention of going to your store that day.
- Making your own product allows you to control a variety of different aspects that you can’t when you are using a wholesale product. It allows you to have total control over your inventory, consistency and product quality. These are keys to business and when you use a wholesale product you lose a lot of that control.
- Millennial's continue to drive the business in the industry and they are very conscious of ingredients and quality. Additionally they are growing the “vocal minority” product segments such as vegan, organic and all natural. Making your own product allows you to hit these segments and control your ingredients and quality.
- We have mentioned this before, but creating your own product saves significant dollars on every scoop of ice cream and water ice when making it yourself. There are HUGE product cost savings when you introduce your homemade product to the public.
- One great thing about making your own product is that you can potentially be a wholesaler yourself if your product is successful enough in your and/or extended markets. It takes some time to reach this goal, but once your brand grows enough, there is no reason you can’t make your mark on the wholesale market that remains.
To truly “take the next step” in the frozen dessert industry you should consider making your own product and creating your own brand. By doing so, you truly raise the ceiling of profitability in your operation. You can accomplish a higher sales potential while also lowering your product cost.
Sentry Equipment is here to help you every step of the way. From learning the whys to seeing the hows and executing the dos – we are a phone call away!