·         Going to take over an existing business

·         Going to buy into a franchise such as Walls

·         Going to set up from scratch, with a new or second hand van

·         Going to trade on the streets, at events or both

·         Going to trade from a van, trailer or cart/trike

It is important that you answer these questions as the costs and profits will vary widely depending on the decisions you take. For instance a new ice cream van can cost upwards of £60,000, a five year old one averages about £12,000. In comparison a new trailer might cost around £10,000 and a trike or cart might be as low as £3000

This is where you need to create a business plan, which sounds very complicated but is in fact quite simple and should help you in the decision making process.

Other factors that you need to take into consideration include:

·         Pitch , where are you going to trade? Market research

·         Competition, who are you competing against? Are there going to be any problems?

·        Are you employing staff or working it yourself ?

·         Full time or part time?

·         Seasonal or all year round?

·         Cash flow

·         Is the market expanding or contracting? is there room for another player?

·         Product range,

·         Pricing

These are issues that you should address before spending any of your hard earned cash

Pitch(s)

This is the most critical of all the factors affecting your decision, you need to be sure that there will be plenty of customers. So who buys from an ice cream man? Is a council estate better than a private one? Should you plan to mix a regular spot on a market with events, fairs, carnivals alongside your street round and if you are away at a car boot on a Saturday will that affect your daily street round and so on. It’s also worth noting that pitches outside schools that were highly valued by many mobilers are now discouraged and have even been made illegal by many local authorities.

The first thing to do is to check with your local authority to see what their trading policy is, as in some areas of the country local authorities have banned ice-cream vans from using pay-and-display parking spaces and set up “ice-cream-free” exclusion zones around busy shopping streets.

Others have banned the vans from its streets altogether, while in Scotland, West Dunbartonshire council has introduced an exclusion zone around schools for vans. So check before you get too excited.

Competition

If you are going to ‘work the streets’ and have found yourself a pitch. Be sure of one thing, someone has, or is most likely working that pitch already at the moment. Mobiling can be very competitive. Competition for the best rounds is very strong and it may be difficult to break where there are several vendors already operating, and it has been known to create threatening behaviour. If you decide to go the franchise route you may find that there is a support mechanism in place to help with pitch finding, but in general this is the hardest part of setting up in the ice cream business. 

Seasonal or part time

The ice cream trade is a very seasonal business unlike its counterparts in the USA Canada and parts of Europe . Your sales are likely to be much higher during the summer months than in mid winter.

You need to take this into account when working out your cash flow arrangements

Cash Flow

The great majority of your customers will pay you in cash, occasionally you may get a corporate client that will want to pay by cheque or even by credit or debit card, so you need to make your terms clear at the outset.

You will need to estimate how much income you will receive over the next 12 months, including VAT. To do this you will have to estimate how much ice cream and other products you are likely to sell, and at what price.

You will also need to know at what price you can buy them and don’t forget the seasonal trends

Product range

There are other things you can sell as well as ice creams, lollies, choc-ices and so on. You may decide to offer hot food such as hot-dogs and burgers to boost your income during the winter months.

This will require additional training and cleaning also don’t forget that there is a limit to the amount of equipment that you can fit into an ice cream van.

Other products you could consider are:

·         Cold drinks and semi-frozen 'slush' drinks,

·         Sweets & confectionery

·         Snacks such as sandwiches.

All of these will take up space in your van - so it's very important that you only stock popular items. The secret is don’t be afraid to try something different and TEST, TEST,TEST to see which items sell best.

Pricing

Think carefully when deciding how much to charge for ice cream. If you think that many of your customers will be children, you will need to make sure they can afford your prices. You might want to operate a flexible pricing system – You will most likely increase your prices when you attend an event if for no other reason than to cover the pitch rental, or even charge higher prices in hot weather, although be wary of doing this if you are working the streets, a bad word travels fast and you may well soon find you have a competitor on your round.

Some of the things that you sell may have recommended retail prices suggested by the manufacturer. You don't have to stick to the recommended prices, but these can be a useful guide when setting your own prices.