Like many people, you probably have great childhood memories of chasing the ice cream truck down your street on a warm summer day. The minute you heard that familiar ice cream truck jingle, you’d beg your parents for their spare change so you could line up with the other neighborhood kids to buy your favorite ice cream sandwich or frozen treat.
As a child, you likely didn’t think about the ice cream truck as a business. But now, as an aspiring ice cream vendor and mobile ice cream shop owner, you’re going to have to understand the nuts and bolts—or, better yet, the cream and sugar—of what it takes to succeed in this sweetest of specialty food truck enterprises.
If your dream is to run a profitable ice cream truck business, you’ve landed on the right resource to help turn that wish into a reality. This article breaks down some of what you may need to know to get your new ice cream truck business off the ground, including how to save time and money by using independent talent to do parts of the small business start-up work for you. At the end of the day, you may be best served by accessing the professional help you need on Upwork.
Facts about the ice cream truck business
The first consideration to think about is what type of ice cream truck business you want to operate. Some ice cream trucks stick exclusively to prepackaged ice cream novelties. This type of enterprise is decidedly less labor-intensive and less expensive than offering soft-serve or hard-packed ice cream cones and sundaes.
Owning and operating a single ice cream truck is not only enjoyable—who doesn’t want to put smiles on the faces of customers of all ages?—but it can also provide an opportunity to earn a profit while having fun.
Some reports indicate that, on average, ice cream trucks have between $200 and $300 in gross sales daily when the weather is warm. Depending on your location and how many months of warm weather you have, you might expect to bring in an average of $5,000 a month working 20 hours or less a week. After expenses, you may realize an average net profit of around $30,000 a year working part-time.
What skills are required to work in the ice cream truck business?
While you don’t need a college degree or special training to own and operate an ice cream truck, you will want to have or acquire certain skills to be successful. For instance, you’ll need proficiency in:
- Food services management. Any business that involves serving food to the public requires some expertise in food services management. Not only do you need to know how to handle and store perishable items that are prone to melting or spoiling, but you’ll also need to learn to manage the amount and timing of product orders to be profitable and minimize waste.
- Customer service. As a food truck operator, you’ll be dealing directly with the public, which means your people skills are important. Your ice cream truck will attract customers of all ages, so you’ll need to be friendly and personable when talking to kids, older adults, and everyone in between. Your business success relies partly on your warm and welcoming demeanor. You need composure even in situations when a customer is complaining about your products or service.
- Marketing knowledge. In the past, merely driving around neighborhoods full of kids could render enough customers to meet daily and weekly sales goals. All you needed was a snazzy logo, a zany truck exterior, and a catchy jingle and you’d have customers running to you to buy their favorite ice pop, covered ice cream cup, or chocolate-covered cone. Due to congested traffic and other public safety concerns, many of today’s ice cream truck vendors offer their sweet treats at stationary locations. These venues might include music, art, and school festivals, parks and recreational locations, and other large event spaces. Knowing how to market to attract customers has taken on greater importance for all food truck businesses, including ice cream trucks.
- Management experience. Running a small business requires management skills. If you hire workers, you’ll need to know how to train, schedule, and pay them. Even if you work the business totally on your own, you’ll need to master the basics of bookkeeping, inventory control, tax reporting, and maintaining your workspace.
- Mechanical skills. Operating out of a workplace on wheels means you’ll need to know enough about the mechanical aspects of your truck to keep it in good working order. Acquiring the know-how to perform your routine maintenance and even make your repairs can save you significant time and money. If your specific business also depends on freezers and, potentially, machinery for making and serving ice cream, a good working knowledge of how to maintain these crucial appliances will likely come in handy at some point.
How to start an ice cream truck business
Now that you have a sense of what it takes to own an ice cream truck, it’s time to start planning your business. Let’s review this checklist to help you move forward as an ice cream truck owner.
1. Make a business plan
A good business begins with a good plan. Simply stated, a business plan is a written document that sets forth the operational, financial, sales, and marketing elements of your business. The document provides a roadmap to help you organize and execute all the tasks needed to get your business off the ground and gives a projection of how and when you can expect to see a return on your investment.
Typically, a business plan follows a certain format:
- Executive summary. This serves as an introduction to your company. It’s where you list your mission statement, introduce yourself and any other stakeholders (e.g., partners, investors, or staff), and briefly describe how you plan to make your ice cream truck business profitable.
- Company description. In this section, you’ll set forth more details about how you plan to run your ice cream truck, such as the types of products you’ll sell, your target market, and how you intend to reach customers. This is the place where you’ll describe your vision for your business and how your company differs from the competition. You can also provide information about your company’s structure. For example, are you set up as a limited liability company (LLC), an S corporation, or a sole proprietorship? You may want to hire an independent business consultant on Upwork to help you determine the best structure for your company.
- Market analysis. Here is where you dig a little deeper into the “why” of your anticipated success. You’ll demonstrate your knowledge of the food truck business in your area, focusing on your ability to compete with other mobile and brick-and-mortar ice cream providers. The idea is to consider issues like the current market saturation, the potential for a new concept to penetrate the market, and the likelihood of success.
- Marketing and sales. In this section, you’ll describe your marketing and sales strategies. How will you find customers? How can you create and maintain a competitive advantage? You don’t have to go into extreme details, as marketing strategies are dynamic and evolve. But you should outline your overarching strategy for building and growing a customer base.
- Financial projections and funding needs. This section is particularly important if you’re seeking financing for your business. You’ll outline whether you’re looking to fund your enterprise yourself or, if you’re seeking equity investors or loans, include the terms you’re seeking. You’ll also detail how you plan to spend the start-up funding, your projected revenue, and how you plan to pay off your debt over time. Even if you’re not seeking outside funding, completing financial projections can help ensure you’ll have enough cash flow to stay in business.
Producing a solid business plan that hits all the right points is almost an art form, especially if you have little experience with this type of activity. Fortunately, with services like Project Catalog™, you can engage an independent business plan professional to help turn your business ideas into an actionable and viable plan.
2. Make a budget
Too often, budding entrepreneurs—who are usually creative go-getters with plenty of energy, passion, and ideas—become flummoxed when it’s time to create a realistic budget for their own business. If you fall within this category, don’t worry.
The financial forecasting and modeling experts who offer their services through Project Catalog can guide you through the budgeting process and even do the heavy lifting when it comes to forecasting what your start-up costs will be, how much working capital you’ll need to stay operational, and many other critical aspects of ensuring that you start your business journey in the best financial health possible.
They’ll complete these tasks for a predetermined fee and with a set of agreed-upon deliverables.
3. Purchase the right equipment
Once you’ve established your business plan and have a budget for your expenses, it’s time to think about how you’ll source all the inventory and equipment you’ll need to run your business. Consider the following tips:
- Find a vendor for the novelty ice cream products you’ll be selling, as well as any ingredients required to produce soft serve, gelato, or hard-packed ice cream flavors (including toppings, cones, disposable cups, plates, utensils, and napkins).
- Select the right freezers and ice machines to keep your inventory secure and compliant with health laws and regulations.
- Secure a generator or inverter to convert power from your truck battery into the energy needed to keep your freezers and other equipment in good working order when you’re parked or in the event you lose power while on the road.
- Decide whether you will manage the business with a cash box and a calculator or if you need to set up a point-of-sale (POS) system like those provided by Square or PayPal.
- Choose a sound system to keep the ice cream truck jingle of your choice wafting through the air to attract potential customers.
- Purchase or lease a vehicle for your ice cream vending business. This will likely be your most expensive start-up cost, ranging anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 a month to lease or a minimum of $10,000 to purchase.
4. Get any necessary permits and licenses
You need to comply with all state, county, and municipal laws to operate a legal food truck business. Along with obtaining a general business license and registering with relevant federal, state, and county tax authorities, some municipalities require additional licenses, permits, and inspections.
If you plan to take your ice cream truck to different cities or states, you may need to research each venue’s license, permit and fee requirements to make sure businesses like yours are permitted to operate. Local governments may have different rules around where food trucks are allowed to park, how many decibels of music you can blast out, and what hours you’ll be allowed to operate.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is also a good resource to learn more about how to file for the right licenses and permits.
5. Get insured
Securing the proper insurance for your business is very important. Not only is some insurance required by law, but you also put your entire investment at risk if you don’t insure your business and yourself from loss and liability.
You can learn more about common types of business insurance options from the SBA. An experienced business liability insurance specialist on Upwork can also help you determine what insurance coverage you may need.
6. Use online marketing tools to promote your business
You’ll want to put some resources into marketing your small business as you define your target market and build a potential customer base. Consider securing a business name, registering an internet domain, and creating a logo as initial priorities.
Creating a great logo for your business is the foundation of your marketing and sales strategy. If you’re not a seasoned graphic artist or marketing professional, consider hiring an independent logo design expert to help you establish the right look and feel for your business.
Project Catalog is filled with logo design professionals who can work with you on an affordable, per-project basis. Because your truck is your storefront, you may want to paint it or wrap it using the logo and look designed especially for your business. Perhaps you can create an Instagram-worthy photo spot that will draw people to your truck for postable pics and then stay to purchase your products.
In addition, consider using Upwork to hire design professionals to help you create flyers and other marketing collateral for your ice cream truck business. If you’ve purchased an existing ice cream truck business, you might want to engage one of these professionals to help you rebrand the business to give it a new look.
You may want to incorporate email marketing and social media strategies into your operations to help customers recognize your brand and know where to find you. The best ways to make that happen are to create an email marketing plan and generate buzz for your business through social media.
Don’t worry if you’re not a digital marketing expert, though. Independent digital marketing professionals on Upwork can design and execute a comprehensive strategy for your new ice cream truck business, leveraging the power of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and other channels through influencers, promoted posts, and other tried-and-true tactics.
The social media expert can even teach you how to manage your social media accounts so you will be able to leverage your influence and experiences while on the road.
7. Plan a viable route
Think about where you’ll be taking your mobile ice cream store and which neighborhoods you can include on your regular ice cream truck route. Consider visiting parks and schools if permitted to do so and offering to provide ice cream at neighborhood birthday parties, festivals, and other weekend and seasonal activities.
Of course, you’ll want to check out the competition and make sure you aren’t encroaching on someone else’s established route. The idea is to find an area where other ice cream truck drivers aren’t already frequenting and carve out your territory. Be wary of local laws prohibiting mobile food trucks in general and ice cream trucks in particular, or in particular places.
Become an ice cream entrepreneur
Establishing a successful ice cream truck business is an ambitious dream that you can bring to life with careful planning and the right resources, including by engaging the help of independent talent on Upwork. Don’t be discouraged by all the front-end work you’ll need to do to get your own ice cream business up and running.
Use the steps in this guide as a starting point and seek out help when you need it. With affordable options and per-project pricing, Project Catalog has many independent professionals who are ready to provide the help you need to become a successful ice cream truck entrepreneur.
