Cracking the seasonality problem of Ice Cream Business help?

[Jprandss]

Cracking the problem of paying staff to do nothing in the winter??
I've got ice cream shops that are busy in the summer, and have managers in each shop that we want to keep employed year round. The winters are dead (as you would imagine) and I have spent many hours thinking of ways that we can generate revenue from them.

Does anyone have tips or ideas for generating cash, other than trying to sell our core product? Our problem is that the towns have no footfall. We already make significant effort to market winter based products, but when it rains every day as it has this November, that won't pay the bills.
I've thought of:
-Paid online surveys
-Packaging products from another company
-Buying a winter based business that needs product made/packaging done.
I have five staff paid through the winter (I want to keep them for summer) and there must be someone out there that's solved this or has the problem the other way around- an abundance of work needing fulfilled but not enough staff to fulfil it.
We are based in Cornwall.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Can you sell Direct to other local outlets like Farm shops and Restaurants with suggestions on maybe desert menu's in portion sized containers cutting out the wholesaler's

 

[Jprandss]

Can you sell Direct to other local outlets like Farm shops and Restaurants with suggestions on maybe desert menu's in portion sized containers cutting out the wholesaler's

We don't wholesale, and won't as we wan't to be the only place that people can come to for our ice cream. As the whole county is seasonal, it wouldn't necessarily change our finances as nobody is purchasing at this time of year.
That's why I feel that our solution needs to be remotely based- as in the customers for whatever we are selling be based far afield.

I have thought about Christmas markets being an avenue for us, but they do some with their own issues and don't necessarily help staff be busy.

 

[DontAsk]

Diversify.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Become desert (& coffee shops).

Use delivery platforms.

 

[fisicx]

As suggested, switch to being a cafe in the winter.

When I lived in Germany the icecream shops all became pizzerias in the winter.

Or maybe open up to desktop gamers, run cookery classes, be a social hub, film nights do deliveries of icecream desserts.

 

[Picture Bute]

Ice craem shop two doors down from me has been selling their Christmas packs for pre order via a local facebook page and from what I saw has literally hundreds of orders. They don't just do boxes of ices cream. They do what they call 'ice cream cakes' which is actually a cake looking thing (you can see i'm an expert) made up with scoops and layers of different flavours/colours etc

 

[MikeJ]

Santa's Grotto...

 

[tony84]

Kids parties/disco.
Pensioners tea and ice cream afternoon.
Pensioners bingo/ice cream.

 

[Jprandss]

Thanks all, good ideas, nearly all of which we already do or will be bringing in next year.
In winter we turn into a hot chocolate destination and have spent many thousands on decoration for this.
Next year we will launch Christmas cakes, and advent calendars.
Our shops are quite small and there is a limit to event sizes. We have a new one coming next year that will have more space for events which is exciting.

However, our problem is zero footfall in the towns we are in, through winter, so different food based product ideas just don't work, there is nobody around to buy them from us. The towns have extremely low populations and there just isn't the locals to patronise us.
We have about 8000 follows on social media, but even so it's difficult to get anyone to make the journey physically to visit us. We could deliver but being a low priced product, doesn't make sense to get to larger populated areas.

Hence that I am 100% interested in diversifying, I just haven't been able to (on my own) figure out a product or service that would keep our staff busy and money coming in...

I figured that there could be someone on here that has either solved a similar problem, or has a desperate need for remote staff in a remote corner of the uk...!
I am open to all ideas and have thought about buying a firewood business (brings in money but doesn't use our staff) and Christmas cracker business (might use our staff for packaging, but difficult to make profitable and is actually busiest in August/September for October delivery).

 

[Chris Ashdown]

At least two days a week there are car boot sales where both ice cream and hot chocolate could be a seller

 

[StrategyDoctor]

Cracking the problem of paying staff to do nothing in the winter??
I've got ice cream shops that are busy in the summer, and have managers in each shop that we want to keep employed year round. The winters are dead (as you would imagine) and I have spent many hours thinking of ways that we can generate revenue from them.

Does anyone have tips or ideas for generating cash, other than trying to sell our core product? Our problem is that the towns have no footfall. We already make significant effort to market winter based products, but when it rains every day as it has this November, that won't pay the bills.
I've thought of:
-Paid online surveys
-Packaging products from another company
-Buying a winter based business that needs product made/packaging done.
I have five staff paid through the winter (I want to keep them for summer) and there must be someone out there that's solved this or has the problem the other way around- an abundance of work needing fulfilled but not enough staff to fulfil it.
We are based in Cornwall.

In addition to the suggestions about diversifying (which can be difficult if your managers don’t have easily transferable skills or are resistant to change), have you consider options around workforce planning, this may help as part of the solution to retain good people without paying for quiet shops over winter. Some suggestions, if you haven't consider them already:-

Annualised hours. It’s common in seasonal hospitality: staff work far more in summer and far fewer in winter, but their pay is smoothed over the year. It stops you paying overtime during peak months only to then pay people to stand around in November. You will need to be careful around the National Minimum Wage over certain periods. You could also then consider allowing them to take on other seasonal work over this period.

Seasonal holiday rules, restricting leave in summer and encouraging it in winter, even offering bonus “extra” holiday days for holidays taken in the low season.

Renewable fixed-term contracts (e.g., April–October) with strong incentives for returning managers where you offer higher pay (as you don't have the burden of their cost when you aren't earning), return bonuses for committing to next season, etc. They them have the freedom to choose alternative seasonal work over Christmas and the New Year.

Cross-training and multi-role assignment. Can all managers cover all aspects of the role and all stores? Use the time for training and development so you have a more flexible and more efficient team for the following year?

Plan specific off-season work that justifies keeping managers in and working:
• equipment servicing, maintenance, renovations, H&S checks
• training & development (food safety, updated SOPs, onboarding materials)
• business planning (financial forecasts, menu testing, supplier reviews)
• marketing and campaign development for the next season
• implementing new systems, improving admin processes, etc.

Apologies if you are already doing these, as I know you asked about diversifying, but dropped it in just in case. A hybrid of these approaches usually works best: some diversification, some structural changes to contracts/hours, and a planned winter workload. It gives you flexibility without losing the people who make your summers profitable!

 

[StrategyDoctor]

Cracking the problem of paying staff to do nothing in the winter??
I've got ice cream shops that are busy in the summer, and have managers in each shop that we want to keep employed year round. The winters are dead (as you would imagine) and I have spent many hours thinking of ways that we can generate revenue from them.

Does anyone have tips or ideas for generating cash, other than trying to sell our core product? Our problem is that the towns have no footfall. We already make significant effort to market winter based products, but when it rains every day as it has this November, that won't pay the bills.
I've thought of:
-Paid online surveys
-Packaging products from another company
-Buying a winter based business that needs product made/packaging done.
I have five staff paid through the winter (I want to keep them for summer) and there must be someone out there that's solved this or has the problem the other way around- an abundance of work needing fulfilled but not enough staff to fulfil it.
We are based in Cornwall.

In addition to my previous reply, diversifying any business isn’t easy — and while it can unlock growth, it also carries risk. It’s often one of the most harmful strategic decisions a business owner makes. By chasing revenue a business can lose focus, dilute their brand, overstretch resources, move into areas where they simply don’t have the skills or competitive advantage to succeed, and as a result make their financial worse and staff demoralised.

From your replies it’s clear you want to diversify in a way that still aligns with your brand and creates genuine synergy with what you already do. With this in mind, here are some ideas (food, (or ice-cream) for thought) that have worked for similar businesses:

Make your venue a destination for groups (off-season) : Footfall is low, so can you bring groups to you. For examples:

• Offer your venue as a free/low-cost meeting space on the condition they buy drinks/desserts etc.

Target:

• Business clubs, networking groups, trade associations, etc
• Local community groups such as meet-ups for parent & toddler groups, hobby and art groups, walkers, charities, etc.
• An offsite meeting space for companies bringing remote workers together — many look for this at this time of the year as they do business planning and also pull teams together for Christmas parties
• Birthday celebrations, staff Christmas get-togethers (cost of living means not everyone wants to spend on traditional options).

You can add value by offering simple hot accompaniments (cake, crumble, brownies), potentially partnered with another local business if production is a barrier.

These events can also be used to create social-media content and help keep your brand visible.

You could compliment this with themed events such as ice-cream tasting nights, DIY toppings, seasonal flavour launches (mince pie flavour), partner with a local bakery and offer Cornish pasty & ice cream, etc

Christmas or birthday ice-cream cakes - do you offer these? They are becoming more popular and bespoke themed larger cakes should offer good margins. Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s, Easter, birthdays, corporate gifts and events.

Delivery & subscriptions - I understand your reply regarding single delivery but can you offer other delivery programs?

• Bulk delivery
• Monthly subscription boxes
• VIP Club with reward schemes
• Seasonal bundles (mix in winter warmer cakes + ice-dessert kits)

Custom and seasonal ice-cream cakes

These can be offered year-round and shipped/delivered locally. Themes:

Don’t forget email marketing: many great ideas fail simply because nobody knows they exist!
Advertising is expensive and hit & miss.

Email is still one of the highest-return channels, especially for small local brands. If you haven’t built a customer email list, now is perfect time to plan and start. All those customers who come into the store in the summer and love you ice-cream? Are they on your mailing list? If not can you get them to sign up for special offers or offer a free topping / entry into a prize draw.

You can then target them for some of the offers above?

Good luck and keep us all up to date with how you get on, I'm sure many will be interested as it's a problem many businesses face.

 

[Jprandss]

At least two days a week there are car boot sales where both ice cream and hot chocolate could be a seller

They are seasonal through the summer down here...

 

[Jprandss]

In addition to the suggestions about diversifying (which can be difficult if your managers don’t have easily transferable skills or are resistant to change), have you consider options around workforce planning, this may help as part of the solution to retain good people without paying for quiet shops over winter. Some suggestions, if you haven't consider them already:-

Annualised hours. It’s common in seasonal hospitality: staff work far more in summer and far fewer in winter, but their pay is smoothed over the year. It stops you paying overtime during peak months only to then pay people to stand around in November. You will need to be careful around the National Minimum Wage over certain periods. You could also then consider allowing them to take on other seasonal work over this period.

Seasonal holiday rules, restricting leave in summer and encouraging it in winter, even offering bonus “extra” holiday days for holidays taken in the low season.

Renewable fixed-term contracts (e.g., April–October) with strong incentives for returning managers where you offer higher pay (as you don't have the burden of their cost when you aren't earning), return bonuses for committing to next season, etc. They them have the freedom to choose alternative seasonal work over Christmas and the New Year.

Cross-training and multi-role assignment. Can all managers cover all aspects of the role and all stores? Use the time for training and development so you have a more flexible and more efficient team for the following year?

Plan specific off-season work that justifies keeping managers in and working:
• equipment servicing, maintenance, renovations, H&S checks
• training & development (food safety, updated SOPs, onboarding materials)
• business planning (financial forecasts, menu testing, supplier reviews)
• marketing and campaign development for the next season
• implementing new systems, improving admin processes, etc.

Apologies if you are already doing these, as I know you asked about diversifying, but dropped it in just in case. A hybrid of these approaches usually works best: some diversification, some structural changes to contracts/hours, and a planned winter workload. It gives you flexibility without losing the people who make your summers profitable!

Thanks for thorough replies.

Again we do most of this, we set admin tasks through the winter which is very useful, managers are currently working out and testing a new stock inventory system, amongst other things.
They will also be working out staff training checklists, making training videos as well.

I do foresee that next year we will have more staff (expansion) and less of these task to do though, as our systems get more mature. Whilst I find these task very useful for the business, they don't bring in revenue.

As for annualising hours, I have thought lots about this, but have come to the conclusion that we already do this to some extent. I wondered whether salaries were better for staff, but it leaves the risk of paying a salary through the winter although shop open hours are low, to run the risk of staff leaving as it gets busier, which inevitably does happen sometimes.
So I find that if we are paying people anyway, we may as well have them in the shop with the chance of getting customers. But there must be a way to fill their time producing an income?

You've made me think that we could do 'lock ins' where a group effectively rents the space (for a very low cost) for an hour or two. Our current shops have seating for less than 10, so we are very limited on event space. This will change next year as we are taking a much bigger unit.

We have just taken on a full time marketing manager, and it will be their job to set up events and promote us through the winter.
I have to be realistic though and that is unlikely to turn a drizzly week in November, January or February to a profitable week . Hence the need to think of another form of income...

 

[Jprandss]

We will be setting up a marketing email this winter!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

They are seasonal through the summer down here...

All year around here