Wondering how to start an ice cream factory business in India? The tropical wet and dry climate of India makes it the country of long summers. Therefore, the demand of ice-creams is on peak season long. This increases the probability of business growth in the sector too. In the earlier times, the ice cream business wasn’t as commercialized as it is today. Vendors used to sell pop-sticks and ice creams on the streets by the means of small mobile carts. In the past few years, many brands have invested in this sector and opened their branches in different regions of India making the ice cream demand propel even more among people.
With the rise in demand, new startups are being innovative with several conceptual ice cream factory business ideas and establishing new franchises in this business. The reason behind the popularity of ice cream parlors in India is the increasing influence of western habits and culture.
However, despite of having business ideas in your mind, you need to evaluate necessary business elements along with your Ice cream factory business start up cost.
Let’s go through the step-by-step guide for starting your own ice cream business startup.
Finding the USP
After finalizing your ice cream business idea, the most crucial issue that you’ll face is to determine the feasibility of your idea. In order to make your idea sell out, you need to find a unique selling point for your business. Consider differentiating factors that’ll make your brand more appealing to your customers.
Some of the ice cream formats include black ice cream, fried ice creams, ice cream cakes, ice cream rolls, fruit ice creams, Nitrogen ice creams, etc. The idea is to decide and choose the perfect form for your ice cream factory business and establishing it accordingly.
Other than choosing a format type for your outlet, you also need to decide upon the profitable factors for your customers such as availability of the ice cream flavours that are in popular demand and home delivery of the ice creams. While sending ice creams out for delivery, you need to ensure that the products stay in good and dry condition so as to be delightful for the customers. You can go for the option of ice boxes with dry ice for delivery.
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Planning for Investments
In order to start an ice cream factory business, or as a matter of fact any business, you need to plan the investments in advance. First and foremost, focus on the things that you’ll require for your business. An ice cream parlour will require a space for a fixed shop, a food truck for a moving one, refrigeration equipments, and waiters or servers. Depending upon the ambience of the shop and the area of your choice, a minimum investment of Rs. 10 to 15 lakhs can be estimated.
You can also go for a franchise ice cream parlour with brand options like Naturals, Amul, Top n’ Town, Baskin Robbins, etc. Opting for a franchise is costlier comparatively but it involves less research and efforts for getting established. So, if you are not up for giving too much time, you can choose this option.
Location of the Store
This factor takes you back to the point of choosing a fixed or movable shop. The tactic for increased sales is to find a location where you find the right crowd. A few options of choosing the location of your ice cream factory business can be crowded areas like shopping malls, markets, offices, festive localities, parks, etc. This gives your business the chance of exposure which, in turn, increases the sales and demand from the customers.
If you are considering a moving ice cream cart or food truck, it can be started with a less financial costing as there won’t be a need of spending time and money on the interiors and ambience. Along with consideration of space for the ice cream parlour, you also need to keep in mind the parking space availability for your customers so that they can easily park their vehicles there.
Also Read : How to Start a Food Truck Business
Finalizing the options and menu
Once you are happy with the location and the type of store you want, you can focus on the options that you want to offer to your customers. Instead of directly going ahead with the options in mind, you should follow a process for proper research and execution. To achieve this, list down the things that you have in mind and compare them with the competitors in terms of pricing and availability.
After doing a thorough check, keep your pricing options in a range of low to moderate initially and also distribute free samples in the market in the form of some marketing contest or scheme.
This will allow people to get the taste of your product. Now based on the menu finalized by you, list out the equipments and elements you’ll need in your store. After proper listing, divide the items into two categories- the one you need to buy fresh and the others that you can reuse or get through existing connections. This will allow you to smartly save your money.
Equipment Needs
Roughly estimating the equipments that you’ll need, here’s a list for reference:
- Industrial/Commercial refrigerator (multiple): Rs. 50,000 – Rs. 1 lakh
- Storage cupboards: Rs. 30,000 – Rs. 50,000 per unit
- Kitchen equipments: upto Rs. 70,000
- Packaging materials: Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 30,000
- Miscellaneous
Other than these necessary elements, it is crucial for an ice cream parlour to have a power backup option available at all times. This is because the only issue with ice cream is that it requires continuous refrigeration or it melts and get wasted. In order to save yourself from any loss, it is important to handle the power backup option by purchasing a noiseless generator which will cost you around Rs. 1 lakh or so.
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Staffing Needs
A positive aspect of setting up an ice cream factory business plan is that you do not need to hire any chef or cook for making ice creams. This reduces the requirement in terms of staffing on a huge budget as the pay of a chef or cook is pretty high in most of the food businesses. All you need for your ice cream factory store is a set of 3-4 skilled workers including the cashier.
With a little training of making ice creams according to different recipes, any worker is eligible for the job that need to be done in an ice cream parlor. The salary for these members can range from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 individually which will sum up to a total of almost Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 60,000 on an average.
Ensuring Consistency of Taste
The thing about so many flavours of ice cream is that each of them is appreciated for its unique taste. You need to ensure that your ice cream factory business follows strict consistency rules when it comes to the unique taste of the ice creams you are selling. That’ll be the reason why your customers will come back to your store time and again.
If you are having multiple chains of your ice cream parlor, you need to manage a standard format of recipes in all your outlets. For this, you can use the method of central kitchen management that ensures proper distribution of products from base kitchen.
Business Licensing and Documentation
Ice cream is a part of food and beverages category and, thus, the licensing requirements do not vary much in those terms. Some of the generic ice cream factory license include shop establishment licenses, FSSAI licenses, Local Municipal Authority, and Fire license.
Before going for the paperwork and licensing, it is a good practice to go for consultancy about these first. The overall process of Business licensing and documentation for an ice cream factory business will cost you in the range of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh.
Also Read : 15 Profitable and Super-Easy Retail Business Start-up Ideas
Marketing and Promotion
For any business to scale up to its heights, it is important to have the right branding and marketing strategy. First things first, before deciding upon any marketing efforts, you need to come up with the USP that you are offering along with the people who’ll be interested in it. You can also figure out some offers and schemes for attracting customers from time to time such as “Get one ice cream free on purchasing of one in this festive season”.
Starting an ice cream business isn’t too much of a burden if you’re really passionate about exploring the business scope. These are the few areas that need to be kept in mind before going ahead with the business. Other than these tips, you should also go ahead for a full-fledged research and study before opening your ice cream parlor. Sell unique flavours at the right price to the right customers- that’s the simple idea to success.