I would like to ad more dessert items. We currently serve dessert pizza and have OS cookies. Cakes and pies? I would like to offer ice cream because we are in the building that used to be the only ice cream place in town. New or used equipment? Buy or lease? Soft serve or hand packed? I appreciate the advice!
Thanks!!
I’ve made brownies & cinnamon rolls…
Used to own a soft serve machine…did combos w/chicken & pizza & ice cream…
You can buy some decent Taylor equipment on ebay…make sure you get air-cooled models…your distributor s/have ice cream…easy to clean machine…
We offer a awesome cheesecake which is kept and served Frozen. Sounds crazy but it is awesome. For some reason the cheesecake doesn’t FREEZE rock solid it is perfect.
I did the same thing with Cheesecake. It’s really popular and an easy upsell. I buy 10" for $15 each, cut in 16 slices and sell for $2.99.
We also offer chesse4cake . . . plus baklava, tiramisu and occasional other stuff. We will try gelato and/or italian ice in the Spring.
frozen turtle cheesecake is the bomb. Even better is raspberry, cheesecake and chocolate
Speaking of cheesecake,
Why are you guys paying premium prices when you can make it yourself for MUCH MUCH less, even the turtle or specialty kind?
You can make a cheesecake, 10 or 12 inch with a simple spring form pan and a simple oven for probably 5-6 bucks per cheesecake depending on how much you pay for the cream cheese.
It isnt tough and if you sell enough if it, advertising FRESH cheesecake would sell even more.
Same goes for cookies, get the right oven and make it yourself.
I don’t make it myself, because the products and pans to make it are pretty much one gamers. I don’t use cream cheese or eggs or vanilla for anything else. It is an add-on item that I upsell, and not part of my current main focus. There will come a time when I can and will do my own desserts, but we are not yet a full time, full service operation.
The cake I get from USFoods is a good product, is uniformly portioned, and is brought to me by a really nice man in a truck 
I will later this year get into making my own for sale. It is a convenience thing for me right now.
We sell Cheesecake, Tira Misu, Chocolate Torte & Ice cream. Selling desserts is a sure way to see more $$ at the end of the day!
PS: If there is a restaurant depot in your city, be sure to check out the dessert section, they have a wide selection of delicacies.
Cannoli’s are a piece of cake, no pun intended. I think we pay around $20 for cream and $20 for shells, and although I’ve never counted, that probably makes 50-60 cannoli’s. At $2 each…
Anyone who loves their cheesecake - can you please name the brand you’re using? I plan to add it too…
Fantasia made in StPaul
I have tried many others but none compare
Great ideas! Thanks!
like someone above said… you’re better off costwise and taste wise making your own. It’s easy and not too labor intensive. It costs a lot less to make cheesecake than to buy it.
Let’s now talk about product rotation and spoilage rates for those that do not sell. One must certainly include that into one’s cost of food or sales price. Without adequate equipment and process to freeze product without freezer burn, I lose making my own. I have not been able to get an adequate product texture freezing my own without a ‘flash freezer’. Product will spoil before I sell it without freezing. So, I buy mine and take the margin I can get on the product I sell.
I agree that if I don’t throw any out, it may be worth the profit margin. Product waste and finished product ahndling are issues that I have to manage as well. I do want to get to the point where it makes more sense to do it myself . . . .working at it daily.
Nick,
If you dont have a freezer portion of your walk-in, you can get a small portable one that places use and it doesnt cost that much. I know many places I have worked used portable units when they didnt need the full blown versions.
You arent forced to make the cake yourself, but doing so it is BETTER if done correctly than any brand, I dont care what kind it is. Fresh made cheesecake cooled on site versus frozen and shipping should outsell any brand you can buy.
I also wanted to add that the pans are simple spring form pans, very easy to find and not expensive, but you can buy higher quality pans and re-use with no big deal.
If you dont see the value in making it yourself, that is what your distributor is for…making margin off selling YOU stuff they get second hand.
It is easy, I have made cheesecake personally for 10 yrs and I can attest it is more simple than opening a bunch of cans and hand mixing sauce, or hobarting some cheese and probably takes as much time as a few batches of dough.
Real cheesecake eaters NEVER buy crap from most any restaraunt, rather make it themselves because 90% of cheesecake out there sucks.
Oh and just google cheesecake recipe and you can find ANY style from pumpkin to rasp swirl to mocha to turtle…
To me it is similiar to buying canned sauce and using it straight, or do you make it fresh or BETTER than the other guy and take a few minutes to do so knowing the customer will return because of the quality product…
Oh and here is a standard cheesecake recipe for FREE and it is GOOD.
Cheesecake-
3 packages of cream cheese softened
1 pint sour cream
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
vanilla/amaretto (I dont put in a set ammt, rather to taste)
Graham cracker crust (crackers, butter, some sugar if you like) pressed into the bottom of a spring form pan. Let sit in walkin until crust is a bit firm (you dont want the loose crumbs to blend in with the cheesecake mix)
Mix cheesecake batter, pour into pan
Oven at 325-350 and cook for about an hour. Top will be golden brown and knife will come out clean.
Let cool completely, THEN put in walkin. I would let sit in walkin for 3 hrs, divide and then freeze if you wanted to.
Key to a good cheesecake- completely soften cream cheese, not by microwave…beat with sugar and sour cream, and make sure it is smooth, then add eggs. (if you mix with eggs for a long time it can damage the cheesecake)
I believe Nick was speaking about a flash freezer, it’s a little different than a regular freezer in the fact that it freezes things very quickly. He makes a point that I didn’t think of, I’m not sure what the shelf life of cheese cake is if you make it yourself, I would guess 3 days, but no more than 7.
You are right. I am speaking to the ability to handle and move the product once made. My cheesecake recipe is superlative, realtively inexpensive compared to storebought. . . if I can eat it all before spoilage.
Flash freezer is a very fast freezing contraption, and one must first have a walk-in to be able to place cheesecakes in it 
I am speaking from the “smaller shop” perspective. LArge shops who can move the product should very definitely make whatever they can manage from scratch. Since we cannot all make every product we can from products at their source, we have to make business decisions that make sense for our shops and marketplaces. The cake I buy is a superior decision at this point in time to baking my own and juggling the storage and preservation. Were I selling 16+ slices a week, or had more than 16 inquiries about the availability . . . then I would start making a plan and goal of producing my own.
Your points are compelling, but will not change my decision until such time as I have the $$$ to buy another freezer, $$$ to buy a walk-in or a sudden influx of enough new people in my town of about 2500 who like cheesecake enough to buy mine. Ain’t gonna happen, no way and no how.