It’s a basic rule of retail that if you can find a way to add value to products you’re on to a winner. The magic lies in turning the ordinary and everyday into something customers are willing to pay for.
Take ice cream. It’s basically just milk, cream, eggs and sugar but when heated, mixed, whizzed and frozen it becomes something very special indeed.
In fact, we can’t get enough of it. Ice cream sales are booming and new ice cream parlours are opening up in towns across Scotland.
There’s money to be made in cones and wafers. Ice cream sales generate £1 billion for the UK economy and sales are still growing.
On s1jobs there are vacancies across the retail sector, so whether you see yourself behind the counter of your local shop or the brains behind a whole new brand, you can find an opening here.
The secret of making money from a product such as ice cream is to create something so delicious people will go out of their way to buy it. There are plenty of big commercial brands, but this new boom in popularity is also encouraging craft makers to become increasingly creative with their flavours.
Amongst the Nutella and Bubblegum flavours on offer at one Scottish shop last month was Buckfast. Fortified wine ice cream may not be everyone’s top choice, but as a marketing initiative it was a winner, stirring up a social media storm.
Buckfast hasn’t yet made it on to the Ice Cream Alliance’s list of top 20 flavours but it can only be a matter of time.
Meanwhile vanilla still holds sway, with choc chip cookie dough and rocky road making serious inroads on strawberry and raspberry ripple.
Of course summer is boom time for ice cream sales and it could be a bright patch for your career too. If you have experience in food retailing this sector is one to watch and if you fancy setting up your own brand then there’s much to inspire you.
But don’t think you can make money on the cheap. The ingredients may be simple, but ice cream is all about flavour and to get the best you have to aim for top quality.
Get it right and the sound of an ice cream van’s chimes could be the theme tune to your career success.
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