Hey guys.
Today I'm gonna be sharing with you the three fundamental steps that I've personally used
to grow my ice cream business into an international chain.
If you are ready to open up an ice cream business, or you're already operating an ice cream business,
and you wanna bring it to the next level, okay?
Then keep watching.
My name is Wilson, and I'm so excited to shoot this video for you.
After word came out that our expansion to Asia happened, my inbox was literally flooded
with questions and people asking us how we did it, and that's the reason why I'm shooting
this video for you to show you the fundamentals and the step by step and the framework of
which I followed to grow our business into an international chain.
You guys are definitely in for a treat.
Make sure you guys stay till the end of the video because that's where I'm gonna be sharing
with you the templates and the resources that I've personally used in my Ice cream business.
And at the end, I'm gonna guarantee that you're gonna have much more clarity in your business
and much more success, so make sure you guys keep watching.
As a disclosure, these three steps that I'm gonna be sharing with you are operating at
a higher generic view of the process and framework that I personally operate in.
Let's just jump right in.
Step number one: Understand and visualize the end product that you would like to serve
your customer.
Frozen dessert category has so many different types of ice cream: we have ice cream, we
have soft served with gelato, we have premium ice cream, we have frozen custard, icy bowls
there are so many different types of frozen desserts out there.
Without understanding what the end product looks like, you would not be able to customize
the type of space you need, the type of equipment you need, so understanding what you would
like to serve is very, very important.
There are basically two types of standards to determine the types of frozen dessert that
you are gonna be serving, and they are butterfat content, and air content.
Have you ever tasted ice cream that is super icy and not smooth and really crystallized?
Whereas some other ice cream you have tasted are super creamy and super rich and super
greasy?
Well, this is determined by the butter fat content they have inside.
Soft served ranges from 3% to 5%, so less butterfat content whereas premium ice cream
like Häagen-Dazs they range from 12 to 14%.
So, the trick here is to be able to find the type of butterfat content you wanna serve
and the texture that you wanna be able to deliver to your customer.
The second type of standard that we use to categorize frozen dessert is the Airflow Content
which is also called the overrun: The amount of air we pump into the ice cream mix in order
for us to have the end product.
You've probably tasted some ice cream that are super fluffy and it's like flavored air
whereas others would be super dense: it's like eating a solid break of cream, okay?
And this is all determined by the amount of air that we pump inside of the ice cream mix.
Now, depending on the type of frozen dessert that you would like to serve, the equipment
that is necessary is completely different, okay?
Soft served: you can have a soft serving machine, you pour the mix in there, and as people order
you can actually just pump out the ice cream and the soft serve right away and you can
serve it right away whereas if you're tryna serve something a little bit more traditional
like ice cream or gelato you would need to put it in a blast freezer, and then after
it comes out you would need to blast freeze it and then store it and then temper it before
you can serve it.
Now the logistics and the challenges are completely different as you can see, and the space required
for storage and operation is completely different as well.
So, understanding the end product, is super important for you to open up a well maintaining
ice cream shop or if you want to be able to leverage the efficiency of your ice cream
shop, this is super important.
After you decide on what types of frozen dessert you like to serve, it becomes a lot easier
for you to find suppliers and most majority of the time your suppliers would let you know
what types of liquid is necessary, what types of machinery, what is the ideal square footage
for your shop.
So, understanding what you want in the end, is much more important than getting the logistics
and the equipment sorted out because you would definitely be able to find people to help
you with those.
The second step in opening an ice cream shop is to know your three Yours: Yourself, Your
numbers and Your customer.
Know yourself: you're the captain of the ship.
You have a vision of how your customers are enjoying your product and the candid smiles
and the moments that you wanna deliver.
This is your gift to be able to see what you wanna deliver to your customers.
You will need to be able to translate that and communicate that to your team so they
can help you execute this vision of yours.
Knowing yourself and identifying this, is super important in order for you and your
business to operate in sync, and that's when you're able to deliver the experience that
you see and see it actualize in front of you.
Know your numbers: So, many businesses out there fail because they do not understand
their numbers.
I'm not a math nerd and that's the reason why I paid a hefty price of hundreds of thousands
of dollars in fees to the government because I didn't have proper bookkeeping practices
and because I didn't keep my records the way that they want it to be, and I actually paid
over hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
It's a very, very painful experience and lesson that I've learned, and I really, really do
not want you to make the same mistakes, it is something that I do not wish upon of anyone,
which is the reason why this is so important.
But ever since then, ever since I started paying attention to my numbers much more,
I was able to turn that around and in turn we were able to expand our ice cream chain
internationally just within three years.
So, make sure you guys know your numbers.
I'm gonna give you three numbers to look out for: the first one is your rental costs, and
the second one is your food costs, and the third one is your labor costs.
Rental costs should not amount to more than 15% of your revenue.
So, let's say, for example, if you are making $20,000 in your ice cream shop, the rental
costs should not exceed $3,000, this is just a benchmark for you and as a reference for
you.
Number two, food costs: Food costs is basically any direct costs that goes into producing
the product that you're serving, whether it be preparing the mix, or the barista making
the coffee, or the mix costs or the milk costs or the egg cost or the sleeve or the packaging,
any cost that goes in creating the product is calculated as food costs, and that should
not account for more than 30%, and what that means is if your revenues are heading 20%,
same example, then your food cost should not account for more than $6,000.
Something to note here is that there is a lot of ways to help you hit this number, and
it really comes down to proper management whether it be spoilage, loss to theft prevention,
proper inventory tracking: there's a lot of ways to control your food costs to be below
30%.
The third cost is labor costs: which should include your barista, your servers, your scooper,
your cashier, and also the manager, or the operator or you.
So, if you're working in the shop, then you should make sure you calculate your own wage
into this equation as well.
So, if you are, on the same example, $20,000 in revenue, you should not be paying more
than $6,000 in labor costs.
A lot of people make the mistake of not putting their own wage in the equation which at the
end of the day, they'll be making $2,000, $3,000 and they think it's completely fine,
but in reality, this only gives you a false reality of how your business is actually doing
because you're not putting your own wage into the cost, it doesn't allow you to really face
the problem head on and make these minor, minor changes and minor tweaks in order for
you to maximize your profits, so you can actually put some money in your pocket, go to the beach
with your loved ones, and spend quality time and take care of the people you care about.
This is just a super brief overview of all the costs that you should be looking out for.
I dive into much more detail in this video up here, so if you wanna know more about this
topic, check this video out.
Know your customers: So many businesses neglect this fact, and they are not utilizing and
maximizing their potentials because they're serving customers not what they want, but
they're serving customers what they think they want.
So, it's super important for you to understand your customers because this will help you
determine the flavor, determine the interior of the shop that you have, determine the menu
It helps you with a lot of things, so, make sure.
It's as simple as this: just ask your customers what they want and deliver to them what they
want.
Number three, figure out your marketing: Oh my goodness, with this topic, we can go for
days about marketing.
There's so many different types out there with traditional marketing, print marketing,
local marketing, community marketing, digital marketing, I can go and days with the different
tactics and strategies, but for the sake of this video, I'm just gonna go over the big
buckets.
I've utilized all of these type of marketing techniques in order for us to grow our ice
cream chain to international within a matter of three years, so I'm super, super excited
to share a lot more information about marketing with you.
One big bucket of marketing is partnership: whether it be your local businesses or local
talent or just local musicians, you need to be able to partner with them, to grow alongside
with them, leverage off their client database.
You wouldn't believe the amount of businesses that just blend in their community.
So, then even when people walk by, they don't even know these businesses actually do exist.
With proper partnerships, you would allow your shop to stand out amongst the many along
the streets.
The next big bucket is claiming your digital real estate: This is super important to be
able to control how people talk about you online.
You get to control that through your website, you're claiming your pages on Google business,
on Yelp, on TripAdvisor, Facebook, Instagram, any platforms that are relevant to you and
that people has exposure to, you should be able to control that, you should be able to
dictate the conversations that go alongside.
This is a perfect platform for people to see how you operate, this is also a place where
you get to show off your beautiful products and the way you work.
This is something that is often overlooked.
If you're a little bit more tech savvy, than we can focus on more advanced strategies like
keyword optimization, SEO, email, newsletters, such and such.
There are so many different strategies that you can use: online marketing your business.
And the next and final bucket I wanna share with you is advertising and promotion: This
is something that I've been contemplating whether to share with you or not, but I feel
like it's super, super important.
So many businesses out there are running promotions: buy one get one free deals, 50% off, simply
because they're mirroring off what their competitions are doing, not understanding why they're doing
this, and in turn, they're losing a lot on margins.
The number one thing that you need to understand and do before you do any marketing is alignment.
This is something that I cover in my Ace Formula Guide, which is completely free, you can download
it in the link below.
This is something that I follow in order for me to be able to build my ice cream business.
And I really do not want you to make any mistakes.
Spend any money on advertisement whatsoever because this concept is so important, okay?
Alignment with yourself and why and where you're gonna go: Why are people are attracted
to you?
Why your ice cream shop?
You need to be able to determine that, and extract that from you.
People buy into you, so alignment is super, super important before you run any paid advertisement.
The second step is connect: connect with your customers and provide them a value, provide
them a reason to follow you along your journey, and that way you gonna be able to develop
trust which is the number one thing in developing a loyal customer fan base, okay?
If you want consistent and predictable customer stream, this is something that is super important
for you to connect with your customers and your team that helps you execute.
Before and only when you have these two pillars: alignment and connection completed and fundamentally
extracted and developed, should you spend any money on advertisement and should you
move to explode which is paid advertisements so many different strategies that we have
employed, super, super useful.
Before you spend any money on advertisement, make sure you check out the ACE Formula Guide
below: super, super powerful.
Don't spend any money before you check this out.
Free guide for you, my gift for you.
So, as an overview, advertisement includes Facebook ads, IG adds, Google ads, print ads,
influencer advertisements and collaboration.
Promotions are tactics and strategies like buy one get one free, 50% off, 20% off, happy
hour half price, so on and so forth.
It is super easy to run promotions and advertisement, but it is super difficult for you to get the
results that you're looking for which is long term consistent revenue stream which is loyal
base of customers.
So, make sure you guys have the foundation and the fundamentals right before you spend
any money on advertisement.
And the last bonus tip is having a loyalty program.
Having a loyalty program is not just a stupid punch card that you buy seven you get one
free because there is no engagement.
The number one secret in creating a good loyalty program is to make it fun, make it engaging,
so people treat it like a game and they will come and spend much more at your ice cream
shop.
Okay, by now you should have a very good understanding on the steps that it takes, and the framework
that it takes to run an open and successful ice cream shop.
As a recap, these are the three steps that you need to be aware of and figure out before
you open your shop.
Number one: know your end product.
Number two: know your three Yours.
And number three: know your marketing.
As promised, I've attached all the templates and resources that I personally use to build
my ice cream business.
I only, really, hope you find value in them.
Download them in the link below, it's my gift for you.
I really hope you found some value in this video.
Hopefully you're gonna be able to use the resources to build a successful ice cream
shop.
Let me know in the comments, if you have any questions or anythings you want me to elaborate
on, I'll be happy to do it.
If you liked the video: If you take only one thing away from this video, give me some support
and hit the like button.
Otherwise, subscribe for more free resources, more free training.
I'll see you guys in the next video.