Italian Ice Start-Up
Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes
It’s that time of year to think about how to make money in the summer. The one I have my eyes on are the Italian Ice Start-up.
Italian ice, also known as water ice, is a sweetened frozen dessert made with fruit (often from concentrates, juices or purées) or other natural or artificial food flavorings, similar to sorbet.[1][2] Italian ice is not shaved ice that is flavored; rather, it is made by the same process by which ice cream is made: freezing the ingredients while mixing them. Italian ice differs from sorbet in that it does not contain dairy or egg ingredients, other than egg white.[1] Common flavors include blue raspberry, cherry, lemon, mango, orange, strawberry and watermelon, with numerous other flavors available.
I first learned about Italian Ice when I lived in Philadelphia and my friends bought me one. Since then I actually look forward to returning to Philly for one along with a Cheesesteak. So let’s breakdown the Startup! First, it’s healthier because unless you are using inferior products it’s made from real juice. Second, since it’s a ice product it should be cheap to create or source. Third, since it’s not a milk product like ice cream it won’t get sticky to the customers. Finally, it’s special as most Italian Ice has fruit in it so it’s something most people can’t find.
Setup:
- Pick a good location like downtown near offices, train stations or a bus depot.
- Find a place that will sell you the Italian Ice wholesale as you can pick up a bucket of it for about 40 bucks for a 3 gallon bucket. That bucket will serve about 100 people.
- Decide if you want to open up shop in a Kiosk, in a building or have a push cart.
- Contact the city to see if you need a vendor license if you will have a push cart. Also find out if there are any health permits you need as they should be minimal.
Parlay:
- Work the city downtown and high traffic during the week and if you have a cart pull it over to a Farmer’s Market for the weekend.
- If you got the money you can hire a second person to work another area and take in the money.
- Sign short term 4 month leases in buildings that don’t have any tenants right now for cheap as any money is better than no money.
The game with this is to pick the right location and offer maybe 3 to 5 flavors. Since we aren’t trying to be 31 flavors it’ll be best if you pick the 5 that will sell the best. If you live in a hot and humid place like the SOUTH you should be able to make decent money off of it. You only have to work probably 7 hours a day from 11am to 6pm so you should be able to run and pick up new buckets as you need them.
My eyeball costs of this Start up are below..
- Renting a kiosk $200 – $500 a month or buying a cart $3500
- 3 – 3 gallon tubs of Italian Ice for 40 bucks each. = $360
- Cash register $50 bucks
- Napkins and Cups $150
- Freezer Container off of Craigslist – $200
If you pick a decent place with good foot traffic you should get about 100 to 150 customers per day. If you charge 3 bucks per person that’s 450 a day x 5 days a week =2250 x 4 weeks = 9K. So realistically you should make all of your layout costs back in about 2 weeks in a decent location. Remember… if it’s HOT & Sweltering where are these people going to go?
Next Level:
- Buy your own Italian Ice machine for about 9K, it will be a asset (money maker) for years to come.
- Wholesale your Italian Ice to other people when you create a company selling carts for other people to push your company name Italian Ice.
- Think bigger and look at putting up Kiosks in neighborhoods that are cheap as you only need power to store the Ice in freezers.
Reference tabs
- http://emerythompson.com/Model_cb350.htm
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpLaxybH5Tc&feature=related
- http://www.pacvan.com/media/files/Pages/Modular_Buildings/modular_guard_house_Kroger.pdf
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No hand holding on this one for sure. You give so much past the original idea I think you might intimidate people that one small italian ice cart could turn into Rita’s or something. The thing I like is you gave me the key because I was wondering do I have to buy the machine and I never thought of finding a wholesaler and picking it up like regular ice cream.
You might be ahead of your time with all these ideas so I hope you don’t get frustrated that some of us are shocked to see something we can do right now.
Man I don’t have a gun to anyone’s head, NOT YET! YEah the angle that I liked to was finding out they sell it wholesale because that pretty much covers your inventory and makes it a easy business to try.
I don’t get frustrated but I tell you just like when you hear someone talk who never been to the hood it’s evident. It’s better to do it your way instead of asking me when people know they haven’t tried.
I just watched a guy make 30 dollars in a three minute video, and people are sitting here thinking that starting a side business is too risky. I was actually going to take the coffee truck angle and scale it down to a push cart based on my current financial situation that way I could get my feet wet and be out there now! This is just another way to use a multi-purpose cart. Coffee in the cool am, then come back later in the heat for some Shaved Ice.
Even if someone just did it on the weekend at a Farmer’s Market it would make them about 400 to 500 a day. That’s 2K a month extra for 4 days of work. I’m trying to give easy start ups as this one is pretty much scoop and collect.
It just matters how much work you want to put in. This is pretty much a afternoon start up as people won’t buy until the sun is actually unbearable. See the cat who got all his permit and papers together could easily set all this up in no time.
I wouldn’t call this hand-holding. But you definitely laid out a road map for dummies on this one. Damn good idea! Im seriously thinking about executing this one.
Man I try to get the RECON down to a minimum and challenge the average cat to push out there on the street. It’s a very doable Start-up and most people aren’t going to make as much money in their regular 9 to 5 than if they came out and pushed the Ice on a good corner. I think 9K a month is very realistic if you get right by a train station on a hot ass day. I mean if they can sell hot dogs and BS then why can’t someone push the ICE on em.
Well it’s just another one to grow on! The question isn’t whether cats know it’s really about if they are going to DO!
I did this last summer and it was a good investment. I set up shop at baseball games, yard sales, and in the of a busy residential area (in the hood). By mid summer I added bottle water, chips, and nachos with cheese. I sold out everytime. It didn’t make me rich, but by the end of summer there was an extra $5 grand that I didn’t have in the beginning.
On another note, a guy in my old neighborhood who had recently been released from Parchman Penitintery in Mississippi was cleaning cars to make a decent living. I accidentally wasted the strawberry Italian Ice juice in the floor of the the backseat of my car. After he saw it, he developed a cleaner to take deep stains out of carpet. I told him he had a business in that cleaner because nothing in the stores worked until he developed his own, which removed red juice from white caret. Maybe he took my advice……
Awww VG you could give us real world angles on it then. It’s good to know that you sold out that means if you took it a step further you could’ve made another 5K. Rich is not the key but if you had a regular job and did this one the weekend in the summer you might make another 10k by selling simple.
That might be a opportunity blown on your part. Some people are never going to take their ideas to the big time. You should catch up with him have him put you onto the formula and break bread with him when you create Kaboom or CLR. You should double back and catch up with that guy.
I could have made 3 times that if I could stand the heat. Mississippi heat in the summer is fatal. I only set up shop 4 times for about 5 hours, but I’ll definityly double this summer.
Ironically, the guy in my old hood came from a family of entrepenuers. He was suppose to inherit several businesses his father/grandfather had already established years ago. Super intellegent dude, just can’t stay out of prison. When I go back to check for him he might be free, might not be…..
So that means my Mississippi Folk should be moving on the Italian Icee angle hard. If it’s so hot that even the cat selling Ice Cream can’t bare to sell it then we got God’s Start-up and it’s a guarantee. I think the South is wide open for Hustle as you got everything you need to blow. A lot of folk, low wages, low buy in so the last part is to ADD HUSTLE!
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean with some cats having a damn deathwish. If they would just sit the fvck down they would be pretty good. Yeah you might be his savior as you can put money on his books so he can buy cigarettes.
I know a guy just like that when he was my age (20) he had his own staffing agency and drove a Jaguar. The guy was definitely “hood rich” but never got rich because that was the third business he financed by selling drugs as a start-up. He’s in jail now for awhile, it’s sad to see he could have built an empire in no time if he would have just been patient and build from the ground up with out the “dirty money”.
There’s always and will always be wasted talent. So many cats who got the knack waste it on something illegal when the same angle could be applied to legit angles. The longer you live the more you’ll see people who could’ve been something end up being nothing and wasting their years behind bars.
YOOOOO, We been on this hustle in Philly. My Pops and his boy have been doin it for 20 years. My Dad does it on the side and makes like an extra 200 a night, and his boy did it full time makein 50,000 CASH a summer. I just bought a truck and im doin it this year full time. This is a classic Philly hustle. We had a waterice place in Olney in Philly, and now just do it off trucks. Ritas is a multi-million dollar company, started by 2 Philly firefighters and their first day they made 20 bucks. That just shows us, stick with youre hustle and go places.
I picked this angle up when I was living in Philly, NorthSide! So I know what it can do and I know cats are sleeping on scooping Water Ice on the corners. They think I’m telling them how to sell Hagan Dazs when this is a entry level start up that we all can and make some real cash.
Good to know you put wheels on it and just going to keep making cash. 50K in a summer is more than what the average cat makes the whole year. It will always be hot and people will always want something cool and this is a volume business REAL EASY!
You got to hit me up on backchannels and give us some insight on what works. Like what flavors move, how much should we expect for a bucket and whatever insight you can put us onto. I would like to do a follow up with even more insight so cats can make the move even more simple for others to build!
We use 5 flavors. Cherry, chocolate, watermelon, lemon, mango, and sometimes we rotate mango or watermelon out and put blueberry or coconut or some other exotic flavor in. We make our own, but a good way to start would be to buy from Philadelphia water ice factory, they ship all over the country according to their site. This is easy cause its just buying in bulk and selling for more. we do 3 sizes, small, medium, and large. Theres a lot of ways to do it, you just gotta start finding busy areas, once you establish a route, its just going through the motions and getting PAID!!
P.S. – I think I read before that you lived in Mt.Airy when you lived in philly, our waterice was near there in the olney section of the city at 2nd and mashers streets, called Dinas waterice. You prlly seen it around.
I actually lived above Temple university but I have friends in Mt. Airy. I have seen Dinas before so I prolly bought one from there. Thanks for the hookup on Philly water Ice factory as I know if it doesn’t taste right then people will see it as crap.
Thanks for the detail!
No problem, Philly waterice factory is a little different than a fresh made water ice but its still a good product and gets the job done.
I’ll probably be in Philly for my Semi-annual cheesesteak at Pagano’s so I’ll hit up Philly Water to get a sample of what they offer. Some of these vendors are pushing Sno Cone like Ice and I know from experience that ain’t it!
Yea its definately not like that sno cone type ish. You should have a business seminar when you come to Philly, youd get mad cats to come. I know id be there.
Yeah people who never had Italian Ice will fall for that Sno Cone shit as I had some that damn near gave me a headache from whatever syrup they were using. Damn thing tasted like Rock hard slurpee!
I’m still trying to do for self myself homie so I doubt if I ever get out there shaking hands and kissing babies. I’m on the ground floor of my 2nd Act and this time it’s all to build the empire. So the R&G is all I got time to give at this time and I’ll let it grow and reach folks by word of mouth.