Running an ice cream store or truck is a sweet deal—you spend your workdays trying to get a beloved dessert into as many hands as possible. You give your customers something to do with friends and family, inevitably bringing smiles to their faces as they enjoy a night out.
If you’re curious about starting your own, here’s how to start a sweet ice cream business.
Refine a Delicious Product
You can’t start anywhere but here. Because people love ice cream, there are countless flavors and forms ice cream takes, and each tasty treat is a special favorite to some. Hand-scooped, soft-serve, custard, gelato, and even frozen yogurt are just a few of the possible forms, while you can create your own flavor from practically any ingredient that strikes your fancy.Though you can source your ice cream from elsewhere, the best way to draw people is with something new. Maybe your personal dabbling yielded a unique dairy dish. Or, you can bring a special family recipe cultivated from years of refinement to your customers’ tables. Either way, as long as you also have an unquenchable passion for ice cream, and not just money-making—you’re ready to move forward and spread joy.
Pursue a Bevy of Certifications
Moving on to the business-heavy aspect of an ice cream shop, you need a business and foodservice license as well as an employee health license. As a baseline, a business license reports your existence to the government and allows you to legally open up shop. Coupled with this, you need an employee identification number so that your team can do their taxes properly.Because your customers come to consume your delicious ice cream, you need to permit inspections (which recur over time) so that the health department can assess your ability to serve food safely.
Meanwhile, your employee health permit signals that all your employees undergo state-approved food safety training. While these and other licenses and permits can seem confusing, they’re what allow you to scoop out cones for your visitors.
