Like any small business, ice cream shops have to maximize profits, in part, by minimizing expenses. There are many different ways to minimize expenses in the ice cream and frozen yogurt industry.
Obviously, you do not want to compromise on the quality or taste of your product, so cutting costs on ingredients is generally not the best approach unless you can do so without compromising taste.
Many ice cream places are seasonal, which allows them to cut expenses drastically in the off-season by closing down. However, this also means there is no revenue during this period. For businesses that have other revenue streams, this may not be a problem, but it isn’t an option for every business.
Some businesses simply cannot afford to close down and go without revenue for months at time. For other businesses, there may not be an off-season. While ice cream may not be an ideal treat year-round in northern states where the weather gets cold, the states that have warm weather all year, enjoy ice cream all year.
Without being able to close or cut ingredient costs, the other option is to cut expenses on ice cream store supplies such as ice cream cups, ice cream spoons, paper straws, tasting spoons and other ice cream shop supplies.
There are two ways to look at cutting expenses in this area. The first is to simply look for lower cost supplies and the other is to look for more efficient supplies. Sometimes the cheapest is not always the best because you have to use more of them to accomplish the same job.
Take the paper ice cream cup for example. If you buy a paper ice cream cup that is so thin and flimsy that you have to double them up to ensure the customer can get through their ice cream without the cup falling apart than you have to factor that into the price per cup.
If you are using two cups for every order, than the price per cup is really double what it is listed as because one is not sufficient. Ensuring that the paper ice cream cup you buy is sturdy enough to actually hold the ice cream will save money in the long run.
Another way to save money is to double up on the impact of the items you purchase. For example, branding all your supplies may cost a little more, but then your supplies will be serving as supplies and as marketing materials.
Going back to the paper ice cream cup;if every ice cream cup has your company’s name, logo, and colors than it will act as a brochure every where it goes. Your customers could be going to the park, walking down the street, heading to their kid’s baseball game or going home. Where ever they go, your product is being advertised.
It’s fair to assume that when you customers are done eating, they will throw your paper ice cream cup in the nearest trash can. Believe it or not, this keeps the marketing going because the next person walking down the street might see that cup in the trash and then walk over to your business to buy some ice cream.
Small business owners have to be proactive in their approach to business. This is true for cutting expenses as well as increasing revenue through creative marketing and branding.
Large chains have an entire staff of people, who work full time to accomplish these goals. Most small business owners only have themselves or a small handful of other people to help not only come up with the ideas, but also initiate them and conduct the follow through.