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BREAK FREE
By,
Steve Thompson
Emery Thompson Machine
As
I write this the market is down 429 points…the third day of dramatic
loss of value. The U.S. debt rating has been downgraded and our
president says somebody ought to do something. That somebody is you!
 At
this point the only person that can look out for your well being is
you. Not the government with
their food stamps and lifelong unemployment checks. Not GE or other
mega corporations that find
loopholes to
pay no taxes.
And certainly not the 50% of Americans who pay no income tax. The
savior of your livelihood is you and your ability to make money.
To this end I suggest you BREAK FREE and become your own boss. Get
into the Italian Water Ice business or sell hot dogs from a cart or
sell hand made goods at a county fair. My job is to tell you more
about Italian Ice. Basically, you are selling 6 cents worth of
sugar, water and flavor to the customer for $1.50. Not a bad profit!
Many would tell you that the formulas are super secret and handed
down from their great great grandfather from Genoa Italy. Well guess
what? I’m their so called great great grandfather and I’ve never
been to Genoa Italy…I’m not even Italian! Let me prove my point.
Here’s my so called “secret” formula to make two big tubs of lemon
ice:
6-8 lbs. sugar
14 quarts water
2 quarts fresh lemon juice
6 California lemons – the zest only – just for
looks
Freeze for 18 minutes in an Emery Thompson 24 quart batch freezer
and that’s it!! Every other flavor you come up with will be just as
easy. The total cost is about $6.50 for the two tubs. It will yield
640 ounces of product. If you sell a quarter pound portion of
Italian ice to the customer (4oz.) then your gross profit will be
$240.00. Take away your food cost of $6.50 and you have a net profit
for the two tubs of $233.00!! Not a bad business to be in!
Ices sell in hot weather because Italian water ices cool you off and
they are inexpensive to purchase. Ice cream – the other product this
machine makes – can actually make you thirsty when the outside
temperature goes above 85 degrees. So this is a warm weather
business. But not so fast…you’re not through making money yet. You
know that fancy restaurant in your town? Their chef would love to
sell something called Sorbet (sȯr-bāy) which Italians call Sorbetto.
Instead of selling lemon, cherry, grape and watermelon Italian ice,
now you’re selling mango, papaya, grapefruit and Champagne sorbet to
the Executive Chef. The chef
loves this product because he can send it out to the table as an
intermezzo between courses or as a light and highly profitable
dessert at the end of his fabulous five course meal. AND you can
sell it to the restaurant all year round! So with just one Emery
Thompson Batch Freezer you have two separate and highly distinctive
businesses. Now I have you working 15 hours a day (like me) and the
money is pouring in. Not bad, eh?
So what will it cost to start your own business? I’d say about
12,000 to $14,000 will get you into the ices business if we include
machinery, cabinets, flavors and paper goods. You don’t need a big
fancy store to make ices – especially if you’re doing a push cart or
wholesale. Find a part of town that is less expensive and rent a
modest amount of square footage. You can always spend more….later.
A word of caution. Italian ices are a mostly cash business. Your
main ingredient is tap water. Do not be like my customer in New
Jersey who went into an IRS audit wearing a Rolex watch, a Tommy
Bahama shirt and turns to the auditor and says, “can you hurry this
up…my chauffeur has the motor running on the Bentley.” Always pay
the government “your fair share.” After all, there are a whole lot
of people on government assistance counting on you showing up for
work today!
Had enough? No? Good. Because now that you’ve been in the ices
business for a year and you’re making good money, it’s time to
consider making old fashioned hard ice cream and/or Artisan Gelato.
After all, you’ve got the location; the Emery Thompson Batch
Freezer; the sinks; the freezers and most importantly….the customer
base. With a high quality dairy blend of milk, cream, sugar and skim
milk along with top grade flavors, you can produce your own frozen
dairy desserts for your existing restaurant customers. Did I mention
country clubs and hotels? They buy ice cream too. The food costs are
a bit higher for ice cream but the return is very good and now you
have expanded your base of operations without additional equipment
costs.
You started this article with no job and if you listen to the news
pundits - not much future. At this point you have two ices
businesses and are expanding into ice cream/gelato. How’s that for
being your own boss…your own entrepreneur? |
