In Gelato Business, new entrepreneurs have choices to start small e.g. placing gelato kios in mall

or they can go big having their own gelato manufacture. A manufacturing unit needs sufficient distribution

to break even. That usually means that you have to open 2-4 outlets of some kind, in order to sell sufficient

product to break even but more importantly to create sufficient public exposure to encourage other retailers to

buy your product.

Do not forget to build the retail outlets into your gelato business plan. If you are a franchisee good way to increase sales is to develop retail franchisees of your own.

The ice cream manufacturing machinery for a small manufacturing facility will cost about $40-50,000 including two batch freezers, a pasteurizer, blast freezer, chiller and display freezer. Gelato factories usually use water-cooled, 3 phase machines.

They are less expensive and much more efficient than air-cooled but you need a chiller to produce cold cooling water. Gelato factories, consist of two batch machines, a large blast freezer and a pasteurizer can produce almost a ton of ice cream per day, an astonishing amount.

A gelato business that has a small manufacturing unit can operate in a surprisingly small space such as a spare bedroom or garage

Advantages of a gelato factory:

• Lower rent than retail sales space
• Faster production rate
• Higher output- more than 1-ton per day
• Ability to service many shops, kiosks, hotels and restaurants
• Permits quick development of an area beating the competition “to it.”

 

Disadvantages of gelato factoy

• Manufacturing costs associated with overhead and salaries
• Requires more retail outlets to be profitable
• Requires a marketing plan and distribution system

 

Cash reserve:

If you want to see your gelato business succeed, you should have money reserved for promotion. Very gelato businesses fail because of bad ice cream. They fail because of inadequate promotion.