No, there are not better ice cream alternatives when it comes to the perceived position of the product. Sure, there are cheaper ice creams… but that is the point, they are cheaper and do not enhance the image of a store with a reputation for providing the best. You mentioned Dryer’s. Dryer’s, Byers, whatever… are mass market brands; nothing special, therefor they fail… to provide something special. Differentiation is where pricing power comes from. The premium brand not only commands a higher price, but, by association it helps justify my higher prices. There are some local brands that are available in pints. They are something we are looking at; my concerns are that our tourist customers have not heard of the them and they are MORE expensive than B&Js, not less. (By the way, Ice cream bars, assuming you are using premium bars, have two problems; they melt before they get to the delivery address and they cost more rather than less since you have to give 4 of them in place of a pint)
The best part; it works. “FREE BEN & JERRYS” stops traffic in the local dining guide. Compared to the discounts offered on the national chain ads it is a better deal for me. I don’t want to discount product if I can avoid it. Providing added value instead maintains the premium positioning of the store. In a tourist driven market, I need to find very fast ways to convey the message that we are different and better otherwise the visitor will go with what they know. The brand of premium ice cream helps to do that, the value added sale rather than a discount reinforces it.
In the end it is gross margin $$, not gross margin %% that gets put in the bank. You have to count labor when labor is used to make something. The labor to make the dough and sauce, make the pizza, gas to fire the oven are all part of the picture. If you consider that the variable costs associated with selling a pizza are 50% of sales at best and 60% in many stores, the contribution margin %% of ice cream is just fine. If I had an alternative that would drive top line sales, lend brand identity, attract customers all while providing higher margins with no labor cost, of course I would look at it. So far, I have not found it, not that I have stopped looking.
I am sure that whatever you are doing works for you and that is great. I am in an environment where costs are high. Pizza makers are $10-$12 per hour. Assistant managers are $14-$18. Occupancy cost is about $30 per foot. There is a huge amount of advertising going on for a market this size, so to be visible, we spend about 30-35K on marketing. I need to keep the ticket average up and maintain the ability to charge premiun prices. To accomplish that I have to both provide a great product and find ways to convey the message that we are different and better.
If you are in a low volume, price sensitive market your reality is different. Hopefully your costs are low too.