So two weeks ago I had a rare opportunity to have a chat with an Ice-cream man. I gave the dude a lift from one of the northern suburbs into the city. Being a curious man I wanted to find out what he was doing in Chishawasha and he presented me with the following facts:
1. He normally visits Chishawasha every Saturday and on a good day he makes sales of up to $150
2. On Sundays he targets Belvedere churches where he makes sales of between $100-$130
His total for weekends only amounts to $600 from Chishawasha and up to $520 from Belvedere sales. Not bad results from weekend sales only. I did not get off peak sales for the week days.
Lessons learnt from his business
Customer Service: is key in this business, he knows each and every house in this rich suburb, which house has kids, how many kids, what type and flavour of ice-creams they are interested in and what time to visit them.
Planning :His key stakeholders are parents, children, gardeners and house maids. They give him all the information he needs for planning purposes because he does not just wake up and go to Chishawasha to sell ice creams, there is a lot of planning to be done. Some families buy ice creams in bulk and he has to be knowledgeable of the flavours required by each kid as well as the change in tastes. Planning also incudes knowledge of weather conditions or any major events happening in the suburb such weddings, church conferences or parties.
Key Customers: He has key or high profile customers who provide him with the bulk of his business and he always make sure that he meets their requirements first before moving on to other ordinary customers.
So on this particular day it had rained resulting in low sales. Liquidity Challenges effect? Yes like every ordinary Zimbabwean, the cash challenges were affecting his business with sales volumes slightly going down.
Christmas Preparations
So is he prepared for business during the festive season holidays? Taking a cue from last year his plans for Xmas includes visiting the peri-urban areas where folks do not expect to see an ice-cream man. Last year on Christmas day he made a surprise visit to Domboshava, Mverechena and sold out his ice creams within a few hours. By 2:00pm his ice creams had been sold out a situation that resulted in customers getting angry-those who did not manage to get the ice creams were asking why he had visited the place without extra ice creams! This coming Xmas he hopes to give other peri urban areas such as Bhora, Goromonzi, Musana a try. One may ask, Why peri urban? The answer is simple-this is where most people will be on Christmas day.
Opportunities in the ice cream industry: Do read our story on business opportunities in Mozambique-Tete is looking for more investors in this field. The hot and sometimes humid climate makes it favourable to invest as demand for ice cream is high.
We recommend small scale ice cream business and consider selling them at remote areas such as Hunyani-Lake Chivero where business potential is high.
