Do you want to know how much money snow cone businesses make in profit yearly? If YES, here is an analysis of the income potential of snow cone owners.
A Snow Cone business is ideal as a summer side-hustle. The margins are incredible, you get to be outside soaking up the sun, and you are giving people a constant stream of sugary ice. What could be better than making money and making people happy at the same time?
Selling snow cones is a profitable summer business or year – round career in hot climates because costs are relatively low compared to potential revenue.
The great thing you will discover is Snow Cones offer huge margins! Say your total costs of good per snow cone are .50. It is not strange to see people selling them $2 – $5 per cone. Note that pricing can depend on several factors, including where you are selling and demand.
Will you be offering different sizes? Sizes are a great up sell. Say a 6oz snow cone costs you .50 and a 12oz snow cone only costs you .75.
You are already using the container and spoon; the only addition is extra syrup and ice. This doubles the size for the consumer, but your costs are only .25 more. Now you can offer the 6oz cones at $3.00 or double the size (12oz) for only $4. Your profit margin went from $2.50 for the 6oz to $3.25 for the 12oz.
Estimated Profit Margin of Snow Cone Business
Have it in mind that different areas are going to offer different profit potential to snow cone owners. For instance, if you are in an area that has a relatively low population and consistent competition, then the ceiling is going to lower than if you live near a city park that always sees a lot of people in the summer but has no competition.
Note that if the average income in your area is $20,000 a year, you probably can’t charge as much as you could in an area where the average income is $60,000 a year.
Howbeit, there is always spare change for a snow cone during the summer, and no matter where you live, the profit margins make a well run snow cone business a very lucrative venture, and one that can make a great side income, a high quality second job, or if you live in a warm enough climate, maybe even a full time living.
Indeed, the snow cone business has huge profit margins, and because of that many people who buy shaved ice stands find they can make their initial investment back in less than a month…and sometimes much sooner.
However, for any given snow cone you have very low overhead. A paper cup might cost 5 cents each when you buy in bulk; napkins are just under a penny each, while plastic spoons might be one and a half cents each. Coupled with the syrup costs, the numbers still look very good.
Prices vary based on whether you make your syrup from concentrate or buy it pre – mixed, but even then prices might range from 15 – 30 cents a snow cone at most. Even if you only charged a dollar for shaved ice and had no up sells, you’d still make 65 – 70% profit. Very few businesses can say that.
Let imagine doing $200 of business in a few hours and knowing three fourths of that was going into your pocket, and that’s not including up sells. There are always ways to trim the numbers.
You can figure out good upsell products, find a good sale and purchase in bulk to take down overhead even more, or maybe your location allows you to have higher prices. There are always ways to figure out how to make your business much more profitable overall.
The amount a snow cone owner makes depends on the sales numbers you are looking at in your area, the foot traffic, and what prices you can charge. But the huge potential of the business comes from the high profit margin. How much can you charge per snow cone?
For instance, even if you can only charge $2 a snow cone, sell 100 in an hour at a little league game or 500 at a flea market, or even 1,000 during the day at a beach event, you are looking at some really good days, especially when you are pocketing well over 60 percent of the money as net profit.
There are many stories of good days where a single owner of a shaved ice cart pocketed upwards of $1,000 in profit. This isn’t a common day – but common days of $300, $400, or more isn’t unheard of from some snow cone cart owners.
Conclusion
Note there aren’t many businesses where you can count on pocketing a hundred or several hundred dollars in cash for a few hours of work just a week after starting. If you are in an area where incomes and average prices allow you to charge even more, then that is even better!
Moreover, even if you are set up in an area known for low prices, the sheer profit margin that comes from selling snow cones means you are going to be having some really good days.
Have it in mind that one of the really great parts of the snow cone business is you are looking at a high demand during hot days, and the sheer amount of sales with a high profit margin means you’ll be very happy – especially since every payment is made in cash.