Imagine for just a moment... it’s a hot summer day, you’re at the ballpark watching your kid’s little league game and you get hungry for a snack. You head over to the concession stand and there’s a big sign that says “Ice Cream.” What do you do?
Get a scoop or two, of course!
After all, who can resist ice cream in the summer? Or any time of the year for that matter!

Concession stand operators know the secret to profits is adding food and snacks that fans are going to gobble up. Ice cream is not only a fan favorite but also a high-profit item.
If you’re considering adding ice cream to your concession stand or snack bar, you can either go with soft-serve or hard. Soft serve requires an initial investment in an ice cream machine, but it quickly pays for itself with sales. Hard ice cream requires a freezer (obviously) and has less maintenance than if you were operating a soft-serve machine.
Once you’ve weighed the pros and cons of soft vs hard ice cream, it’s time to start thinking about flavors. Of course, no ice cream stand is complete without the two most popular flavors - vanilla and chocolate. For soft-serve operators, you can go with those two and call it a day!
If you’re serving up hand-scooped ice cream, cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, and chocolate chip cookie dough wrap up the top five most popular ice cream flavors, so consider adding those to your lineup.
Now that you’ve got your ice cream picked out, it’s time to think about how to increase your profit margin even more. The simplest way to do it is to sell ice cream treats such as sundaes and banana splits or offer toppings for an additional charge.
If you’re going to be offering items besides simple cones, be sure to stock up on ice cream boats and containers such as styrofoam squat cups and lids, or larger parfait cups.

Choosing the right toppings to offer is as important as choosing the right flavors of ice cream. The most popular ice cream toppings include peanut butter cups, cookie dough (we have birthday cake, chocolate chip, and chocolate covered cookie dough!), marshmallows like our delicious Marshmallow Charms, and of course sprinkles!

Giving your customers the opportunity to customize their ice cream treat with toppings not only increases customer satisfaction but by charging a little extra helps your concession stand’s profit margin rise.
Need help in deciding what to offer your fans this summer? We’ve been taking care of concession stand operators for decades, so contact us with any questions you may have. We’re here to help you have a very profitable season!