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Selling ice cream

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    Selling ice cream

    I splashed out and bought a ‘99’ from an ice-cream van yesterday – a ‘double’ costing £3.50 and was wondering how much profit these vans could potentially make a day.

    The queue at the van was steady and I guess it was serving around 1 or 2 ice-creams a minute. So let’s try an optimistic calculation, at say 2 ice-creams / minute at £2.50 per ‘99’, over 16 hours. I imagine the cost of the ‘99’ ingredients are f-all (a big tub of ice-cream powder mixed with water, and chilled?), but let’s say the vendor is also being ripped off and it’s 50p per ‘99’. So £4 profit per minute, £240 per hour and £3800 a (good) day. Clearly there are a lot of other costs, including paying the local Mafiosi to defend your patch, quiet times, water, parking tickets, etc, so what’s a more realistic estimate of how much an ice cream man could coin out of greedy people with more money than sense per day?

    #2
    In few locations will you have a steady stream of customers - those spots are probably very competitive and might require permits from the council since they'd mostly be in towns.

    Most people don't buy £3.50 ice-creams, I reckon estimating £1 profit per item is more reasonable. Many purchasers buy multiple items for partner/children though.

    Probably the only way to tell is to find a few places vans set up, and watch for an hour. But as you say, even a cloudy day could reduce takings a lot, let alone rain - and that's during the summer!
    Originally posted by MaryPoppins
    I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
    Originally posted by vetran
    Urine is quite nourishing

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      #3
      Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post
      I splashed out and bought a ‘99’ from an ice-cream van yesterday – a ‘double’ costing £3.50 and was wondering how much profit these vans could potentially make a day.

      The queue at the van was steady and I guess it was serving around 1 or 2 ice-creams a minute. So let’s try an optimistic calculation, at say 2 ice-creams / minute at £2.50 per ‘99’, over 16 hours. I imagine the cost of the ‘99’ ingredients are f-all (a big tub of ice-cream powder mixed with water, and chilled?), but let’s say the vendor is also being ripped off and it’s 50p per ‘99’. So £4 profit per minute, £240 per hour and £3800 a (good) day. Clearly there are a lot of other costs, including paying the local Mafiosi to defend your patch, quiet times, water, parking tickets, etc, so what’s a more realistic estimate of how much an ice cream man could coin out of greedy people with more money than sense per day?
      I hope it was decent ice cream!
      I think its around 80p to £1 for a small 99 round here and about £1.50 for a double.
      Are you down South by any chance?
      I'm sorry, but I'll make no apologies for this

      Pogle is awarded +5 Xeno Geek Points.
      CUK University Challenge Champions 2010
      CUK University Challenge Champions 2012

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        #4
        Originally posted by Pogle View Post
        I hope it was decent ice cream!
        I think its around 80p to £1 for a small 99 round here and about £1.50 for a double.
        Are you down South by any chance?
        Yeah, and the prices were written in felt-tip - probably changing in response to demand. Shouldn't a '99' cost 99p?

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          #5
          the sister in law invested in a hot dog van and got all the basics in, and she was looking to make a fotune. After being moved on from the juicy spots by thugs, numerous death threats and fire-bomb threats, she ended up in a remote lay-by and doing adhoc venues like big footy matches. It lasted a year before she folded.


          I have been thinking of something similar for a while now. Buy a motor bike with some big f-off panniers and watch the roads news. As soon as you spot a traffic jam, head off with appropriate swag and walk up and down flogging the gear. e.g. On a hot day - ice creams, ice cubes, chilled drinks
          On a miserable day, pizza, burgers, coffe

          etc

          (\__/)
          (>'.'<)
          ("")("") Born to Drink. Forced to Work

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            #6
            Originally posted by EternalOptimist View Post
            After being moved on from the juicy spots by thugs, numerous death threats and fire-bomb threats, she ended up in a remote lay-by and doing adhoc venues like big footy matches. It lasted a year before she folded.

            That probably explains why ice-cream van salesmen look like ex-cons. I imagine it is quite 'competitive' to get and hold on to prime turf.

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              #7
              I know somebody who runs an ice cream van and the profits can be huge and so can the scams. It costs nothing to make that sloppy ice cream the vans produce - the main expanse and the big money comes from getting the license to sell at local events. On these days, if the weather is nice, you can literally make thousands. But you have to remember that nobody goes to an ice cream van and pays with a card or cheque - everything is in cash and that means that it's practically untraceable. The guy I know declares about 20% of what he earns. He also has an old van and it's freezers regularly fail, meaning that he has to dump his stock, meaning that he has to re-purchase it all again and in so doing cover his tracks in terms of the mismatch between the items he has purchased and the amount he has sold.
              Rule Number 1 - Assuming that you have a valid contract in place always try to get your poo onto your timesheet, provided that the timesheet is valid for your current contract and covers the period of time that you are billing for.

              I preferred version 1!

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                #8
                IIRC this is how Duncan Ballantyne (of Dragons Den fame) started. He reckoned the best move he did was buying a licence for a park - meant he was the only operator there and could clean up. He also wisely bought second-hand vans November time and spruced them up ready for Spring. Drawback is I suppose 8 months of the year you earn nothing in Blighty...
                Hmm, may pop down to the bookstore and read his book..
                Speaking gibberish on internet talkboards since last Michaelmas. Plus here on Twitter

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post
                  That probably explains why ice-cream van salesmen look like ex-cons. I imagine it is quite 'competitive' to get and hold on to prime turf.

                  Bill Forsyth made a movie named Pride and Joy which told the tale of a vicous ice cream turf war in Glasgow .

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post
                    That probably explains why ice-cream van salesmen look like ex-cons. I imagine it is quite 'competitive' to get and hold on to prime turf.
                    The worst people to take on in a fight are often the quiet ones with a baby face.
                    Speaking gibberish on internet talkboards since last Michaelmas. Plus here on Twitter

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