The Do's and Dont's of Starting an Ice Cream Business

Make sure you have enough capital. As with any business, you have to be properly capitalized before you can begin. Make sure you understand the costs involved. This includes hard costs such as equipment, furniture, signage to variable costs like construction, permits, architect fees and more. You also want to ensure you have some opening operating capital to get you through the first few months.

Don’t cut corners or settle. Whether it be on your capital, your location, your vision or your equipment – don’t cut corners. It’s very important to follow through on every item throughout the process. If you start taking shortcuts now, it will not stop. You will start to take shortcuts on your employees, your product, your vision, your customer service. Think your profit won’t suffer at all?

Don’t use the internet as your buying source. Again, the internet is a great tool. So is a screwdriver – that is unless you have to saw wood. Point is, a tool must be used properly to prove its worth. The internet can be a strong resource for some information, but buying equipment off the internet is dangerous. I know that is self-serving since we sell equipment here, but that does not mean I’m not right. The ice cream equipment is key to the quality of your product and its performance is directly tied to your bottom-line. Buying the right equipment from the right company is a must.

Understand the process. When you open a business from the ground up there are many business type things you need to do. Creating a legal entity, registering with the town, providing architectural drawings for permits and construction. Hiring contractors and eventually employees. Preparing balance sheets and profit and loss statements.    Employee handbooks, uniforms and payroll. These are all important but necessary and often times excruciating steps in the process of opening a business. Having a good partner (ahem…Sentry) that can help guide you from A to Z is paramount. 

Don’t think it won’t be hard, hard work. Maybe you know someone who owns their own business. Maybe you’ve seen them out golfing in the middle of the day. Maybe they come and go as they please. Well that won’t be you for a while! Opening a startup ice cream business is taxing.  You need to be there. You need to provide the business the proper foundation so that it gets off to the right start. Employees won’t care like you. Managers won’t care like you. Family and friends won’t care like you. You and what you bring cannot be replaced. After the business does open, you cannot just show up at night to count the register.  A business owner is invested financially, emotionally and physically into their business. It truly becomes a lifestyle.