EVERYONE DREAMS ABOUT STARTING THEIR OWN BUSINESS, AT LEAST IN THE UNITED STATES. THE FREEDOM YOU GET WHEN YOU HAVE NO ONE ABOVE YOU TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO IS ONE OF THE GREATEST FEELINGS IN THE WORLD. THE TRICK TO IT ALL IS TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS AS EASY TO OPERATE AS POSSIBLE OR YOU WILL RUN INTO HEADACHES THAT YOU COULD NEVER IMAGINE AS A W-2 EMPLOYEE. ICE CREAM AND POPSICLES (PALETAS) SHOPS ARE SOME OF THE MOST FUN AND PROFITABLE FOOD SERVICE BUSINESSES YOU CAN START. Do you want to work less and make more? HERE ARE THE TOP 5 REASONS TO START YOUR OWN ICE CREAM TRUCK TODAY!
Freedom: Why do you start a business in the first place? Is it to work all day long and not have any free time? Maybe some people like that but if you're like most people you want to start a business so you can become financially free of the rat race. Granted, most people think that since they are a business owner that everything is smooth sailing but the reality is that you still have to put in long hours and tons of sweat equity into your business before you can reap the true freedom you desire. However, even if you're working your ass off you can at least say that you are the only one you answer to (customers are actually now your boss but we will leave that for another post). There are no bosses above you that can fire you at a whim and it is a very powerful feelings once you have become a confident business owner. Franchises are attractive to most people because it takes away a lot of the trial and error that you would need to get through in the first few years of business. The franchise has already figured out what works and what doesn't and you can jump in right away making money based off of their proven business model.
High Profitability: Everyone knows that restaurants are a hard business but people still want to take a crack at it. Average restaurant profit margin is only about 5%. 5% for all that work is insanity. Some restaurants have higher profit margins but most don't crack 15% (As of June 2022 the margin at Starbucks was 13%). The profit margins on an ice cream truck business are truly outstanding when you compare them with other restaurants. Considering each one of our paletas costs us about $.50/unit to produce (this includes COGS and Labor, Overhead etc) and we sell them for upwards of $3 or more depending on your market you can do the math and figure out it is way better than 5%. Some estimates of the average profit margin for ice cream or sweets business is at about 25% and if you work with a brand that has fine tuned the process you could see a solid increase from there.
Low Overhead: Restaurants are VERY expensive to start. You need at least $500K to start an average brick and mortar restaurant in an average town and even more if you are in a high cost of living area. Even after you spend all of that money you are not guaranteed any sort of success and most people do not achieve that success either because they are not patient or are too lazy to begin with. A great differentiator between a traditional brick and mortar shop and a mobile based business is that the overhead is much lower than a traditional restaurant. Sure you have to purchase a vehicle or trailer but that will run you about 10 times less than the initial investment for a B&M. The Pop Fizz model allows you to get a fully functioning truck on the road for less than $100k. Once you have your equipment, you will need to find a commissary and place to store your vehicle. From experience, you can usually find a commercial kitchen in your area for less than $500-$1000 a month while your own store front could cost anywhere from $2000-$10000 a month depending on location.
Guaranteed Money and Schedules: Since you are mobile you only need to work on the days that you want to. Your traditional store has set hours and days of the week that they are open, usually from 10am-10pm. This is great if you are in a high foot traffic area but what happens if you are not in a prime location? What happens if one or more of your employees calls out sick? Who is going to cover and help your other employees? It's likely going to be a manager or yourself. Think about the kind of strain it puts on your employees when they have to cover the work of someone else. Most of the time they are not being compensated any extra for this additional work. This leads to low employee morale and quick turnover. Now imagine you as the owner has to cover the shift. Imagine a nice relaxing Sunday morning, your kids are waking up and they want to be with you (their favorite parent :)). You have a whole day lined up of fun and family bonding but you get a text message from 'Samantha', your opening manager, saying she doesn't feel well and she can't come in. Well, since you have a store front that has to be open at a certain time someone needs to cover it. You have to break it to your kids that you now have to go cover a shift and can't do all the fun stuff you had planned. Now you're in your own personal prison for 12 hours and there is no guarantee that you will make any money that day. This is amplified during the unbearably slow winter months and let me tell you from experience, it is draining. Well, this wouldn't be an issue if you went with the Pop Fizz model. We only do mobile events and each event only requires 1 person to manage it. You pre-book events on the days you want to work and are able to set a schedule that works for you and your family. No longer will you sit for 10-12 hours making $500 the whole day, instead you can put in the work and that you can make in about 2 hours of work. You are usually able to pair down operations during the cold months to save your resources and time. Be prepared for very busy Summer months but who wouldn't want to work a little extra during the busy months, make your money for the year and get a 4-6 month break to pursue other interests or work? It is a way better concept than a brick and mortar and those are the facts.
Save on labor and waste: As a restaurant, every penny counts. Lost product is a real thing and if you don't sell your donuts or cookies on the day they are made you have to toss them out. The beauty of paletas is that, since they're frozen, you can make them and keep them frozen for months before they go bad and are not able to be sold. Ideally, you will not be keeping your inventory for more than a few weeks but it is good to have the option to hold inventory indefinitely without worry of waste. With a traditional treat shop like donuts or cookies, you basically need to run a production every day of the week to keep your product fresh. Our processes at Pop Fizz show you how you can do 1-2 productions a week and keep up with demand. With our equipment you can make about 5000 paletas within a 8-10 hour period and keep those for as long as you need. We fully package our paletas so they stay fresh for much longer than other shops who place their product, unwrapped in a freezer and get freezer burn within a day or two. Pre-made items also allow you to batch your labor costs and gives you and your employees more time to sell. You don't necessarily need to have a dedicated production crew and sales crew you can cross train and do both while keeping labor costs low. We do think it is a good idea to incentivize your employees to sell by creating a commission structure that benefits both employee and employer. We also truly believe it is a good idea to pay your employees more than what is seen as a standard wage for the type of business you are doing. With the money you save overall this is a wise investment for your business.
Quick service: How many times have you been at a food festival and each truck had a massive line with a 40 minute wait time? Once you order, you have to wait another 30 minutes to get your food. Even worse, once you get your food you find out it isn't what you wanted and already spent $45. It has happened to me so many times that I am scared to eat anything I don't cook anymore. Well, the beauty of our concept is that since we pre-make all of our items and package them our wait times are insanely quick. We can go out to a festival and get through each customer in about a minute on average. This includes the ordering and the serving. Our model allows for extremely quick serving time which reduces your customers wait time and increases the likelihood that you will be able to take business from other trucks who have an unmanageable line. Even other types of ice cream trucks cannot compete with the quick service of a Pop Fizz mobile truck. I just recently attended a large event and waited 40 minutes in a line to get a very overpriced and flavorless snow cone. Had that have been a Pop Fizz truck I know I would have gotten the quickest service and most flavorful dessert option at the entire event. Even if people don't know your business OR don't want a paleta they will get in your line because it goes so quickly. We have served 3000 people in an 8 hour period with only 2 people and we can show you how. It is insane how much business you will lose to a Pop Fizz.
These are only a tip of the iceberg on why a mobile business is a better option than a brick and mortar store. You want your business to be easy to run and you want to be where your customers are, this is what a mobile food truck business will help you accomplish. Every person is different in their work style and brick and mortar stores have some advantages if you can get the correct location but if you are on a lower budget an ice cream truck business is one of the most profitable models I have seen in the food service industry. If you want to learn more about how we can help you acheive your dreams of running a profitable ice cream truck business and claiming your freedom submit a contact request at https://www.popfizzabq.com/book-an-event.