Will serving food in my Ice Cream Store increase profits?

SHOULD I SERVE FOOD IN MY ICE CREAM STORE?

Let’s start with this: For the most part, food sales will compete with your ice cream sales. Whether you sell candies, snacks, hot dogs (heaven forbid!), French fries (double heaven forbid!!) or sandwiches, etc. you should understand that people are willing to spend only so much money at a time. All of this is discussed in my Mystic Ice Cream Booklet and Kit, available on this website.

They have a preconceived notion of what a visit to your “ice cream store” should cost. Either they are aware of this, or, more often, it rests in their subconscious. It happens everywhere.  Fast food joints? When the gal at the register tells you your bill is $28, how do you feel? Not coming back real soon, are you? Conversely, if your bill arrives at Ruth Chris, and it’s $28, what do you think? Darn right, you’ll be back…and soon.

Sure, you might get the couple facing you in the store to drop $20 to $30 on whatever you’re selling, but the HUGE question is: Are they coming back?  And, How Often? I want customers to come in two to three to four times a week, and I want them to tell their friends (and bring them in).  And the most important part: I want them leaving with a smile on their faces, waving good-bye to our staff, and saying “Thanks,” and “See ya.”

I want my ice cream stores to be hangouts.  A comfortable place to relax, listen to some music, play games, and take part in “special” nights, where there might be Trivia, Name That Tune, Karaoke, etc.  And, where they can always have THE WORLD’S BEST ICE CREAM.

Sometimes, people come in for Karaoke, bringing their own discs, and stay three to four hours, and not even buying an ice cream!  Do I care?  No.  They’ll be back.  They’ll tell their friends.  They’ll bring their friends and family.  We’ll get their business…for a long, long time.

You may want to consider selling bottles of cold water. Cold water rinses down your delicious ice cream as well as make a sale that compliments your ice cream. In my Ice Cream Boot Camp Kit, we discuss the pros and cons about selling food in your Ice Cream Store.

Some final thoughts on serving food.  Anything fried will not only smell up the store, but will inevitably permeate your ice cream. You won’t sell the World’s Best Sandwiches. Or the World’s Best Doughnuts.  Or the World’s Best Muffins.  But you can, and will sell THE WORLD’S BEST ICE CREAM.  But not if that ice cream has even the hint of a smell of anything foreign.

Of course, your motivation for selling other items in your shop will undoubtedly be to make more money. Very short cited. Trust me, you’ll make considerably more money if you sell one product; one absolutely, unbelievably, astonishingly excellent product. A product, by the way, that every person walking this earth wants!

Do it…you’ll thank me.