How to Write an Ice Cream Shop Business Plan [10-Step Template]

Key takeaways

• Solid planning is essential: A well-crafted business plan helps define your concept, attract investors, and avoid costly mistakes as you launch your ice cream shop.

• Hook readers from the start: Your executive summary and company overview should clearly lay out your business model while highlighting what makes your vision unique.

• Show your strengths: A strong team structure, creative sample menu, and detailed market analysis demonstrate how your shop can shine in a competitive landscape.

• Stand out with branding: Strategic marketing paired with playful, on-brand graphics can help turn first-time visitors into loyal fans who remember your shop.

• Think long-term: Thoughtful operations planning, realistic financial forecasts, and solid funding strategies will set you up for a sustainable launch.

• Present with confidence: Whether you’re pitching investors or networking, being able to communicate your plan clearly can make all the difference.

Guide to creating a business plan for ice cream shops

A la mode, in the US, means a dessert that is topped with ice cream, but the phrase is a French idiom that roughly translates to “fashionable.” Ice cream is one of life’s luxuries – only in recent history have we been able to maintain the freezing temperatures required to make and distribute ice cream. Aren't we lucky to get to live in this time of ice cream ubiquity?

Whether you're a Ben & Jerry's devotee or you've gotten familiar with the churning of a countertop ice cream maker, venturing into the ice cream industry is an exciting and delicious endeavor for entrepreneurs.

There are a variety of models of ice cream shops that find success – traditional ice cream parlors that revive a nostalgic aesthetic, more contemporary ice cream “laboratories” that experiment with flavors, toppings, and methods, gelato shops that serve up extra-rich, punchy flavors found in Italy, and shops that focus on Thai rolled ice cream, or any other specialty.

Even if an ice cream shop seems like a relatively low-risk venture – who doesn’t love high-quality ice cream? – it's crucial to build a roadmap so that your shop can get started without setbacks and operate smoothly.

Why build an ice cream shop business plan?

There is simultaneously more and less competition in the ice cream market than one might expect. It seems easy to find an ice cream-focused fast food chain or parlor franchise like Dairy Queen, but those shops don’t dominate the market share.

Some customers are seeking an experience from another decade, whether they were there for it in the original or not. Ice cream parlors are one of those market niches where clinging to the past works (take Graeter’s Ice Cream for example) – some of the busiest shops don’t have experimental ice cream flavors or nitrogen, they have charm and consistency.

Other customers want a specialized experience and are always seeking the next new trend. Ice cream shops that rely too heavily on a fad like liquid-nitrogen shakes often don’t have longevity. 

A business plan for your own ice cream shop is crucial for helping you define if you want to interact with the classic ice cream parlor genre or define a sustainable new path that hops from trend to trend with the times.

How to Write an Ice Cream Shop Business Plan (Description, Examples, Proposals)

While the specifics of a business plan for an ice cream shop are unique, this restaurant business plan template is a helpful tool for imagining and executing your vision for an ice cream shop. Download a customizable version of the template below and read on to learn more about how to make it work for your shop.

Elements of an ice cream shop business plan

1. Executive summary

As the first section of your business plan, the executive summary is your prime opportunity to make a good impression on your target audience with a concise introduction to your concept and a summary of the operations of your ice cream shop. Drag your target demographics into your shop with vivid descriptions of your vision.

An executive summary introduces the key elements of your business plan – consider providing an overview of the budget, the shop’s mission statement and core values, and a coherent vision for your shop’s brand. Write your executive summary with the target market in mind, thinking about how you can grab the attention of potential investors and convince them to keep reading. With self-serve frozen yogurt in every strip mall, how will your ice cream shop excite your customer base (and investors)?

2. Company overview

The company overview compliments the executive summary to provide a quick look at your ice cream shop’s business model, but this section is more practical than attention-grabbing. Provide readers with glossary to the rest of your plan with descriptions of your ice cream making process, information about ownership and management, and a walkthrough of the customer experience.

When people think of ice cream, they probably don’t see dollar signs – making an ice cream shop business plan attractive to investors with lots of portfolio options is a unique challenge that a detailed and attractive business plan can help you to meet. 

3. Team and management

First, place yourself in the ice cream shop – are you a distant business owner, the store’s general manager, market research and development team or some combination of ice cream maker and financier? Then, provide information about the roles you will need to fill and how you will fill and organize those workers. 

It’s likely that you will have a relatively small team at your ice cream shop, even if you expand beyond just ice cream and other frozen treats. Consider writing about the employees you will hire and what kind of jobs you will be providing.

4. Sample menu

Ice cream, shakes, frozen yogurt, gelato, sorbet, sundaes, ice cream cakes – ice cream shops offer a wide range of sweet frozen treats, and the range of desserts and unique flavors that you will offer in your shop is your opportunity to showcase your creativity and pricing.

You might include information about whether you will sell ice cream from a local vendor or make your own, and what kind of traditional or experimental flavors and serving methods you will feature. Is there a consistent theme for your menu or iconic custom flavors that you will offer seasonally? Will you offer drinks like Italian soda, or even some savory snacks for those without a sweet tooth?

A sample menu is one of the greatest assets of your business plan and building a menu is a productive exercise for ensuring that your plan is airtight before presenting it to potential clients or investors.

Market Analysis

The market for ice cream is busy, and competition between self-serve frozen yogurt, nostalgic ice cream parlors, and contemporary frozen treat laboratories is intense. A strong, memorable, and coherent brand that fills a need in your local market is important for the success of your shop. 

Evaluate the local market by conducting a competitor analysis. In your town, what opening is there for an ice cream shop and, furthermore, does that overlap with your vision? Is there more demand than the current market can meet? Or, how might you shift your vision to meet a market opening?

Explain to your potential investors or partnerships that you’ve considered a path to success for your business in the area you’re in, identify a potential base of customers, and plan to capture that market.

6. Marketing strategies

Finding an opening in the local market for ice cream shops is the first step but spreading the word about your business is the only way to get customers into your doors. Consider planning a grand opening to generate some intrigue for your store and detail how you’ll convince those new customers to become regulars. You should consider running the following marketing campaigns:

• Social media 

• Print advertising 

• Loyalty programs

• Email marketing

• Local SEO and Google My Business 

These are all good strategies for marketing your ice cream shop, but what will make them great is how they reach your target customers and convince them to visit your shop.

7. Branded graphics

One of the most exciting aspects of building a cohesive brand across your business plan is creating branded graphics that convey your brand’s concept to both potential investors and customers. Think about how you might represent the ethos of your ice cream shop and the experiences that you plan to offer your customers through branded graphics and the design of the documents in your business plan.

Have fun with your ice cream shop’s branding – marketing to the inner child in us all is a solid strategy to increase your foot traffic for a whimsical luxury like ice cream.

8. Business operations

The business operations section of a business plan includes information about the client experience, sales and inventory, accounting, management structure, staffing, and the supply chain for the frozen treats on your menu. Consider and define the role you plan to play in your business as well. 

An ice cream shop might seem like a simple business model, but this section is your ultimate opportunity to plan for your business by building an outline of how it will run from the daily to the quarterly. A detailed business operations section also helps you prepare for sales and expense projections.

9. Sales Forecasts and Operating Expenses

The operating expenses for an ice cream shop include the costs of labor, insurance, products, equipment, rent, marketing, etc. which should all be balanced against sales forecasts in this section of your business plan. 

Business plans commonly include a break-even analysis, which compares the sales required to break even with the cost of expenses each month. Investors will be interested in the potential for profit and loss in order to assess the risk of contributing to your business, but a profit and loss statement for a business that isn’t open yet requires some educated projections.

A cash flow analysis shows investors that the company can support itself without additional investments by detailing planned spending on labor, supplies, and operations. Consider how the startup costs that are unique to running an ice cream shop, such as having a freezer repair technician on retainer, balance at the end of each fiscal quarter. 

10. Financing and loans

Perhaps you’ve decided on an ice cream shop because it both fills a market need and is an easier business idea on your personal finances than a full-service restaurant. Even so, it's crucial to carefully consider your finances and prepare to apply for any necessary lines of credit or loans.

This financing guide is a valuable resource for figuring out your funding options – it goes into detail about loan options from brick-and-mortar banks, alternative loans, Small Business Association (SBA) loans, merchant cash advances, business lines of credit, crowdfunding, asking family or friends, commercial real estate loans, equipment financing, and purchase order funding.

Once you have a plan to fund your ice cream shop, provide potential investors with information about other investors and detailed financial projections of the profit margins and expenses of your business.

How to present an ice cream shop business plan

There are a few ways to prepare to talk to investors about your business plan and get them interested in your dream business. As you write and edit your plan, you’ll need to know it inside and out, and remember that the way you talk about your business should be tailored to the situation you find yourself in. For example, if you're at local events, like a networking meetup, you might want to have a 30-second elevator pitch prepared so that you can communicate everything you need to about your plan for an ice cream shop quickly. Be sure to include something exciting or make an opportunity for questions to keep people talking.

You can also send your ice cream business plan to investors and banks far and wide – put your concept and plan in the hands and minds of as many potential investors as possible. 

Once you secure a meeting with a potential investor or partner, you’ll want a more detailed presentation that presents all the key elements of your business plan – for a successful ice cream shop, that will likely include the focus of your ice cream menu and what kind of experiences you hope to provide.

It’s good to anticipate potential questions and prepare answers for questions you encounter for the first time. When networking, be honest and genuine, even if you don’t have a ready answer for each question that comes your way – investors will be interested in your charisma and savvy just as much as your ability to build a detailed plan.

Related Ice Cream Resources

• Ice Cream Shop Name Ideas

• How to Open an Ice Cream Shop

• Ice Cream Shop Ideas and Concepts

• Ice Cream Shop Menu Ideas

• Ice Cream Shop Business Licenses and Permits

• Ice Cream Shop Design Ideas

• Ice Cream Shop Floor Plans

• Ice Cream Shop Business Plan Executive Summary

• Ice Cream Shop Financial Plan

• Ice Cream Shop Operations Plan

• Ice Cream Shop Industry Market Analysis

• Ice Cream Shop Management Team