The majority of my work is helping ice cream entrepreneurs start their journey into a growing and profitable ice cream or frozen dessert business. Sure, we do a lot of work with already established businesses, but I think I get the most joy out of seeing someone with a dream of opening an ice cream business, start down the road of making that dream a reality.

Let me share with you the typical story of how someone gets into the ice cream business and some of the sales channels that they are taking. They are emerging and changing in this new decade.

An Ice Cream Entrepreneur’s Journey

An ice cream entrepreneur’s journey obviously starts with a love of ice cream. You probably can recall great memories with family and friends, perhaps very early childhood memories of sharing frozen treats with family and friends. Maybe it was churning ice cream with grandma or Pop Pop on the back porch. Perhaps they let you lick the dasher. There is really nothing like experiencing freshly made ice cream made the old-fashioned way. Every passionate ice cream or frozen dessert business owner has a driving force behind him or her that is rooted in the love of frozen treats and the memories that sharing them provide.

Next, many individuals start the process of dabbling with ice cream at home. With the advent of relatively cheap home ice cream makers, nearly everyone can try making their own frozen treats and concoctions at home. In fact, the explosion of television and cable shows like the Food Network have brought unique food recipes and processes right into peoples homes.

Many current ice cream newbies have purchased a small ice cream maker, either a “frozen bowl” type or one with a small compressor and have been dabbling in traditional and unique ice cream recipes in their spare time. After the first 20 batches or so, the home ice cream guru is now making ice cream for dinner parties and gatherings at their home. Their reputation for great ice cream is starting to spread around their family and friends, and soon they are asked to bring ice cream to dinner parties or kids birthdays.

Once our friendly ice cream novice starts to get some compliments and attention from others outside the family who are not obligated to compliment the quality out of pity or to “Keep dad happy”, its drives him or her to think more about taking the next step in his or her ice cream journey.