If you’re running an ice cream van, café, or dessert shop, you already know soft serve and slush are crowd-pleasers. But have you ever stopped to think: how much does each portion really cost, and how much profit are you making? Today, we’re diving into the numbers behind two of the most popular frozen treats: soft serve cones with a flake, and slush from a 12-litre bowl. Don’t worry — no complicated math, just clear, actionable insights.
Soft Serve Cones: What’s the Real Cost?
Let’s start with the classic soft serve cone — creamy ice cream topped with a chocolate flake, the quintessential treat everyone loves.
Here’s what goes into one cone:
- Soft serve mix: trade suppliers charge around £3 per litre. A single litre makes roughly 11–12 average-sized cones. That works out to about 27p per cone for the ice cream itself.
- Cone: a standard sugar cone costs about 17p each.
- Flake: a chocolate flake adds roughly 16p per portion.
When you add it all up, the total cost to make one cone is roughly 60p.
If you sell that cone for £2.95 — a common retail price — your gross margin is around 80%. That’s right: four-fifths of what your customer pays goes straight toward profit, before factoring in labour, electricity, and cups or napkins.
Even if you tweak portion sizes slightly, find cheaper cones, or get creative with bulk orders, you’re still looking at very healthy margins. That’s why soft serve remains a staple in high-traffic locations — the combination of low cost and high perceived value is unbeatable.
Slush: The High-Margin Hero
Now, let’s talk slush. The brightly colored, icy, sugar-sweet drink that’s perfect for summer (and beyond). The beauty of slush is that it’s incredibly cheap to make.
Here’s how it breaks down for a 12-litre bowl:
- Syrup concentrate: a 5-litre bottle costs around £12.95, which works out to £2.59 per litre. One litre of syrup makes about six litres of finished slush when diluted with water.
- To fill a 12-litre bowl, you only need 2 litres of syrup, costing roughly £5.18 in total.
- If you serve 200ml portions (a generous cup), you’ll get 60 servings from that bowl.
That means each slush costs less than 9p per portion to make!
Sell those cups at £1 each, and you’re looking at a gross margin over 90%. Even at £1.50 or £2 per cup, the margins remain sky-high. It’s little wonder slush is often the highest-margin item on a dessert menu — the raw ingredients are cheap, and customers love it.
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Key Takeaways
- Soft serve is profitable but realistic: While some guides suggest a 90% margin, using standard trade prices and reasonable portion sizes, you can expect about 80% gross margin per cone at a £2.95 selling price. Still excellent, but it’s important to check your actual costs.
- Slush is a goldmine: With syrup costing pennies per cup, slush is a high-margin item that can significantly boost overall profits — especially in summer or at events.
- Small adjustments make a big difference: Tweaking portion sizes, sourcing cones and flakes smartly, and controlling overrun in your soft serve machine can boost profits even further.
- Factor in operating costs: Labour, electricity, disposables, VAT, and machine depreciation will reduce the net profit, but even after those, soft serve and slush are incredibly lucrative.
Bottom Line
If you’re in the frozen treats business, understanding the real cost behind each portion is essential. Soft serve offers consistent, high margins, while slush provides a cheap, high-margin option perfect for upselling. By knowing these numbers, you can price confidently, maximize profits, and keep your customers coming back for more.
Whether you’re running a small ice cream van or a bustling café, these two items remain the backbone of a profitable frozen dessert menu.
