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Frozen Custard Business Plan Template

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Are you interested in starting your own Frozen Custard Business?

Introduction

Global market size, target market, business model, competitive landscape, legal and regulatory requirements, financing options, marketing and sales strategies, operations and logistics, human resources & management.

Frozen Custard Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » Food Sector

Are you about starting a frozen custard company? If YES, here is a complete sample frozen custard business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a frozen custard company. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample frozen custard marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for frozen custard companies. So let’s proceed to the business planning section .

Why Start a Frozen Custard Business?

Frozen custard is a cold dessert just like your usual ice cream, but it is made with eggs in addition to cream and sugar. It is usually kept in a warmer temperature compared to ice cream, and typically has a denser consistency. Both ice cream and frozen custard are made with milk, cream and sugar. There is no major difference in ingredients and the machines used to make them.

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If you are sure this type of business is what you want to do after you must have conducted your research, then the next step to follow is to write a good business plan. Below is a sample frozen custard company business plan template that will help you successfully write yours without much stress.

A Sample Frozen Custard Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

Frozen custard business falls under the Italian Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store Franchises Industry and businesses in this industry mainly serve frozen custard, Italian ice cream or gelato. It is important to state that corporate-owned establishments and frozen yogurt stores are not part of this industry.

The Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store Franchises industry has come a long way and it is still evolving with a good number of frozen custard dessert makers bringing in creativity in terms of flavors, packaging and mode of selling.

Frozen custard chains in the united states include Culver’s, headquartered in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, with outlets in 20 states; Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Stea burgers, based in Wichita, Kansas, with more than 275 locations nationwide; Andy’s Frozen Custard, based in Springfield, Missouri, with over 30 locations; Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St. Louis and Abbott’s Frozen Custard in Rochester, New York.

If you are a close observer of happenings in the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store Franchises industry, you will agree that the industry has gained ground in the United States in recent years. Loads of factors are responsible for influencing demand for frozen custard, ice cream and gelato, especially the increasing health consciousness of consumers, higher input costs and the emergence of frozen custard.

The revenue growth for the industry will be more subdued going forward as competition from healthier, frozen custard substitutes intensifies.

Consumers are increasingly moving away from frozen custard dessert, ice cream and gelato stores, as the level of health consciousness in the United States rises. Nevertheless, their popularity during warm summer months is expected to cushion the industry from any serious declines in demand.

The Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store Franchises industry is indeed a thriving and profitable industry in most countries of the world.

It is a major sector of the economy of the United States of America and they generate over $5 billion annually from more than 9,044 registered and licensed ice cream and frozen custard stores franchises scattered all around the United States of America.

The industry is responsible for the employment of over 108,410 people. Experts project that the industry will grow at a 3.2 percent annual rate between 2011 and 2016. The establishments with the lion shares of the available market in the industry are Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, Dairy Queen and Rita’s Italian Ice.

A recent report published by IBIS World shows that the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store Franchises industry has been on the rise during the five years to 2016, albeit with limited growth. The report pointed out that several factors have been influencing demand for ice cream and frozen custard, especially the increasing health consciousness of consumers.

Furthermore, frozen yogurt has gained popularity as a substitute to ice cream and this increased competition has negatively impacted industry revenue during the five-year period. However, growth in disposable income and declines in the price of milk (and therefore ice cream) have led to increases in industry revenue.

Lastly, if you have plans to start your own frozen custard business in the United States, you should ensure that you carry out a thorough market survey and feasibility studies.

States in the southern region in the United States such as Texas and Florida et al can be ideal for a frozen custard business simply because of the weather there. If you get some key factors wrong before starting your frozen custard store business, then you are likely going to struggle to stay afloat.

2. Executive Summary

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is a registered frozen custard and Italian ice cream production company that will be based in Broughton Street – Savannah, Ga., USA and will serve a wide range of clients.

We are in the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard industry to retail a variety of frozen custard and Italian ice desserts served for consumption on premises and take away to a wide range of customers along the locations where we intend positioning our shop.

We have put plans in place to also sell our franchise and offer consultancy services in line with our area of business. We are in the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store Franchises industry to favorably compete with other leading brands in the industry and our corporate business goal is to be among the top five brands in the frozen custard production line of business in the United States of America.

As a company, we are willing to go the extra mile to invest in some of the finest professionals we can find and also, we have set plans in place to acquire the best of equipment when it comes to setting up a standard frozen custard business.

Our frozen custard dessert shops are customized to fit into the kind of ideas we have of how a first-class frozen custard dessert business should look like.

When it comes to hygiene and proper packaging, we have put plans, process and structures in place that will ensure that we are always at the top of our game. We have been able to secure permits from all relevant departments in Savannah – Georgia.

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is set to redefine how the frozen custard business should be run, not just in Savannah – Georgia, but also throughout the United States of America.

This is why we have put plans in place for continuous training and retraining of all our staff members at and also liaising with stakeholders in the industry to contribute our quota in the way Italian ice and frozen custard making equipment should be fabricated to meet the ever-changing demand of the industry.

We are certain that the demand for frozen custard is not going to plummet anytime soon especially during summer, which is why we have put plans in place to continue to explore all available markets around the cities where we will open of frozen custard dessert shop.

Our strongest selling point at Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is the unique taste of the different flavors of frozen dessert that we will produce and sell. There is hardly any customer that will taste any of our products and would not want to come back.

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our customers’ needs precisely and completely whenever they patronize our products.

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is established by a Georgia award winning food nutritionist – Isabella Hamilton who has a B.Sc. in Food Science Technology and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Yale Business School. She has a robust experience in the food and confectioneries industry.

3. Our Products and Services

At Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC, we deal in all forms and flavors of frozen custard and Italian ice deserts. Our intention of starting Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is to make profits from the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law of the United States to achieve our aim and ambition.

Here are some of our products and services;

• Frozen custard and Italian ice cream served for consumption on premises
• Frozen custard and Italian ice cream served at table by server
• Frozen custard and Italian ice cream served through drive-through
• Frozen custard and Italian ice cream for consumption off premises
• Training, consultancy and business advisory services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• Over vision is to be amongst the top 5 leading Italian ice cream and frozen custard production companies in the United States of America before our 10 th anniversary.
• Our mission is to build a world – class frozen custard and Italian ice production business that will meet the highest standards of excellence with superb service and product offerings in a friendly and welcoming environment.

Our Business Structure

As part of our plans to build a standard Frozen Custard and Italian Ice Cream Production Company in Savannah – Georgia, we have perfected plans to get it right from the beginning which is why we are going the extra mile to ensure that we have competent and hardworking employees to occupy all the available positions in our company.

The picture of the kind of frozen custard dessert company we intend building and the business goals we want to achieve are what informed the amount we are ready to pay for the best hands available in the industry as long as they are willing and ready to work with us to achieve our business goals and objectives.

With the wide range of our product offerings and the plan to sell franchise, we are only expected to employ more than it is required to run a conventional frozen custard dessert production business. Definitely, we will have various employees to man the various services offering at Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC.

In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

• Chief Executive Officer

Plant Manager

Food Technologist

Human Resources and Admin Manager

Sales and Marketing Team

• Accountants/Cashiers

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer – CEO (Owner):

• Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions; providing educational opportunities.
• Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
• Responsible for providing direction for the business
• Creates, communicates, and implements the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
• Evaluates the success of the organization
• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the frozen custard and Italian ice dessert production plant
• Part of the team that determines the quantity of frozen custard and Italian ice desert that are to be produced
• Maps out strategies that will lead to efficiency amongst workers in the plant
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of plant workers
• Ensures that the steady flow of both raw materials to the plant and easy flow of finished products through wholesale distributors to the market
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs
• Ensures that the plant meets the expected safety and health standard at all times
• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
• Enhances department and organization reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
• Defines job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
• Carries out induction for new team members
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
• Oversees the smooth running of the daily office and field activities
• Responsible for the production of all the flavors of frozen custard and Italian ice dessert produced by the company
• Ensures that the organization follows due process as it applies to the nature of business we are into
• Serves as the quality control cum assurance officer of the organization
• Retails frozen custard and Italian ice dessert to our customers when they make demands
• Manages external research and coordinates all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers (retailers) and attract new ones
• Models demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
• Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Develops, executes and evaluates new plans for expanding sales
• Represents the company in strategic meetings
• Helps to increase sales and growth for the company

Accountant/Cashier

• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensures compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for the organization
• Serves as internal auditor for the organization
• Responsible for cleaning the shop facility at all times
• Ensure that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the human resources and admin manager

6. SWOT Analysis

As part of our drive for excellence when it comes to running a standard frozen custard dessert production company, we were able to engage some of the finest business consultants in Savannah – Georgia to look through our business concept and together we were able to critically examine the prospect of the business and to access ourselves to be sure we have what it takes to run a standard frozen custard company that can compete favorably in the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard industry.

In view of that, we were able to take stock of our strengths, our weakness, our opportunities and also the threats that we are likely going to be exposed to in Savannah – Georgia and even in the United States of America as a whole. Here is a of what we got from the critically conducted SWOT Analysis for Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC;

Our strength lies in the fact that we have various flavors of frozen custard and Italian ice deserts that can meet the needs of a wide range of customers. We have a well – designed and structured store and equipment that will enable us meet the demand of products even if the demand tripled over night or if we have an emergency need.

Another factor that counts to our advantage is the background of our Chief Executive Office; she has a robust experience in the industry and also a pretty good academic qualification to match the experience acquired which has placed her amongst the top-flight professionals in the United States of America.

We are not ignoring the fact that offering consultancy services and running a standard and accredited training center is definitely going to count as a positive for us.

The fact that we are setting up a frozen custard dessert production business in a city with other established ice cream plants might likely pose a challenge for us in breaking into the already saturated market in Savannah – Georgia. In essence our chosen location might be our weakness.

But nevertheless, we have plans to launch out with a big bang. We know with that we will be able to create a positive impression and we have a proper handle when it comes to building on an already gathered momentum.

• Opportunities:

The opportunities available to us are unlimited. Americans consume all forms and flavors of frozen custard and Italian ice deserts on a daily basis and all what we are going to do to push our products to them is already perfected.

There is also a growing number of aspiring entrepreneurs who would want to learn how to make frozen custard and Italian ice dessert and they will readily find our government approved ice dessert training center highly ideal for them to fulfill that goal.

The threat that is likely going to confront us is the fact that we are competing with already established frozen custard and ice cream truck companies in Savannah – Georgia and also there are other entrepreneurs who are likely going to launch similar business within the location of our business.

Of course, they will compete with us in winning over the available market. Another threat that we are likely going to face are unfavorable government policies and of course economic downturn.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

When it comes to ice desserts such as frozen custard, Italian ice and gelato, shave ice, snow cone, frozen yogurt and ice cream et al, everyone will quite agree that the market trend changes from time to time. Frozen custard dessert production companies are seriously researching and creating flavors and varieties that will keep them afloat in business.

Any frozen custard dessert production company that wants to remain relevant in the industry must be willing to explore the ice deserts world; he or she must be able to come up with a product that tastes unique from what is available in the market.

Another trend is that some frozen custard production companies have gone beyond only selling their products in their stores to taking it out to people in parks, sport centers and public places through vans and mobile food trucks. Some of these companies have even gone ahead to start retailing their products to the public through vending machines; it is one of the strategies that is helping them gain a huge market share.

8. Our Target Market

Just like ice creams, frozen custard deserts are generally consumed by almost everybody in our planet as such, anyone who chooses to establish the business in any part of the world especially in tropical regions or countries in the equator is sure going to get good returns on his or her investment as long as they are doing the right thing when it comes to setting up and running the business.

In view of that, we have conducted our market research and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us. We are in business to engage in wholesale distribution and to retail a wide range of frozen custard and Italian ice deserts to the following groups of people;

• Corporate Executives
• Business People
• Sports Men and Women
• Everyone who resides in our target locations

Our Competitive Advantage

Our aim of starting Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is to build a business that can grow within the first 10 years of establishing the business to be listed amongst the top 5 frozen custard production companies in the United States of America.

With that in mind, we have been able to come up with competitive strategies that will help us compete favorably in the industry. We are going to be one of the very few frozen custard dessert production companies in Savannah – Georgia with vending machines in all our shop locations .

Another competitive advantage that we have is the vast experience of our management team; we have people on board who are highly experienced and understand how to grow business from the scratch to becoming a national phenomenon.

So also, the wide varieties of frozen custard and Italian ice deserts we produce, our large national distribution network and of course our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for the business. One thing is certain, we will ensure that our store is well equipped and meet the required standard at all times.

Lastly, all our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry. It will enable them to be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our business aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard industry in the United States of America and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to sell a wide range of our products to a wide range of customers.

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC will generate income by selling the following products and offering the following services;

• Various flavors of frozen custard
• Various flavors of Italian ice cream
• Training, consultancy and advisory services

10. Sales Forecast

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Savannah – Georgia and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough profits from our first six months of operation and grow our business.

We have been able to critically examine the Ice Cream and Frozen Custard Store industry, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projections are based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to similar startups in Savannah – Georgia.

Part of what we need to do to meet our sales projection is to ensure that at least one out of every 10 people within 10 blocks of our store is aware of the unique flavor benefits Frozen Custard has over traditional ice cream within our first three months of operation.

Below are the sales projection for Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC, it is based on the location of our business and of course the flexibility of our market approach;

• First Fiscal Year: $150,000
• Second Fiscal Year: $350,000
• Third Fiscal Year: $500,000

N.B : This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and the arrival of a competitor in same location as ours within the period stated above. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Before choosing a location to Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC and also the kind of frozen custard and Italian ice dessert to produce, we conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order to penetrate the available market in the cities where we intend positioning our business.

We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the number of customers we want to attract per time and also for our products to favorably compete with other leading frozen custard and Italian ice dessert brands in Savannah – Georgia and the whole of the United States of America.

We hired experts who have good understanding of the industry to help us develop marketing strategies that will help us achieve our business goal of winning a larger percentage of the available market Savannah – Georgia and throughout the United States of America.

In summary, Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to sell our wide range of frozen custard dessert;

• Introduce our frozen custard dessert brand by sending introductory letters to residents, event planners, merchants and other stakeholders both in Savannah – Georgia and in other cities in the United States of America
• Open our frozen custard dessert production company with a party so as to capture the attention of residents who are our first targets
• Engage in roadshows in targeted communities from time to time to sell our products
• Advertise our products in community based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
• List our business and products on yellow pages’ ads (local directories)
• Leverage on the internet to promote our frozen custard dessert brands
• Engage in direct marketing and sales
• Encourage the use of Word of mouth marketing (referrals)
• Maintaining and growing relationships with customers to generate new and repeat sales
• Significant spending in grassroots marketing
• Innovating new product offerings that will differentiate us from our competition

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Despite the fact that our frozen custard company is a standard one that can favorably compete with other leading brands in the United States, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for all our products.

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC has a long-term plan of selling our franchise all around the United States of America which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Savannah – Georgia before venturing out to other cities in the United States of America.

As a matter of fact, our publicity and advertising strategy is not solely for selling our products but to also effectively communicate our brand. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC;

• Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, et al to promote our brand
• Install our billboards in strategic locations all around Savannah – Georgia
• Engage in roadshows from time to time in targeted communities
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
• Position our Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where we intend getting customers to start patronizing our products
• Ensure that all our staff members wear our customized clothes, and all our official cars and trucks are customized and well branded.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Generally, the prices for Italian ice desserts and frozen yogurt are affordable hence there is no need to employ any detailed strategies when it comes to pricing.

In view of that, our prices will conform to what is obtainable in the industry but we will ensure that within the first 6 to 12 months, our products are sold a little bit below the average price. We have put in place business strategies that will help us run on low profit margin for a period of 6 months; it is a way of encouraging people to buy into our brands.

• Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC will make available to her clients;

• Payment with cash
• Payment via credit cards/Point of Sale Machines
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via mobile money transfer

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for products without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

When it comes to starting a standard frozen custard and Italian ice dessert business, one is expected to spend the bulk of the startup capital on the purchase of standard dessert making machines and leasing a shop facility. Aside from that, you are not expected to spend much except for purchasing ingredients, paying of your employees and utility bills.

These are the key areas where we will spend our startup capital;

• The total fee for registering the business in the United States of America – $750
• Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $1,300
• Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC; in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of – $3,580
• The cost for hiring Business Consultant – $2,500
• Insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400
• Other start-up expenses including stationery ( $500 ) and phone and utility deposits ( $2,500 )
• Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $100,000
• The cost for start-up inventory (raw materials and packaging materials et al) – $9,000
• Storage hardware (bins, rack, shelves, food case) – $3,720
• The cost for counter area equipment (counter top, sink, ice machine, etc.) – $9,500
• The cost for frozen custard and Italian ice dessert making equipment – $20,000
• The cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $4,750
• The cost of launching a website – $600
• The cost for our opening party – $5,000
• Miscellaneous – $1,000

We would need an estimate of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand ( $150,000 ) to successfully set up our frozen custard and Italian ice dessert production company in Savannah – Georgia.

Generating Startup Capital for Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is a privately registered family business that is owned and financed by Isabella Hamilton and her immediate family members. They do not intend to welcome any external business partners which is why she has decided to restrict the sourcing of the startup capital to 3 major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our startup capital;

• Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings and sell of stocks
• Source for soft loans from family members and friends
• Apply for loan from the Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $50,000 ( Personal savings $40,000 and soft loan from family members $10,000 ) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $100,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the number of loyal customers that they have, the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business, then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

One of our major goals of starting Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to retail our frozen custard and Italian ice desserts flavors a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

Mommy Shaun® Frozen Custard, LLC will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and retraining of our workforce is at the top burner.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Application for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Leasing a shop facility (renovation inclusive): Completed
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party planning: In Progress

Fast Food Chains That Will Be Opening Even More Stores In 2024

Despite a shaky, post-COVID economy with inflation influencing and impacting spending habits, fast food continues to be a business and culinary stalwart in the United States. After all, everybody still needs to eat, and even with price increases, fast food remains a relatively cheap way to feed oneself and their families. And as their regular prices rise, and as they attract customers with value menus, the companies behind the biggest of the fast food mega-chains are investing a lot of that revenue right back into themselves, embarking on multi-year plans to expand aggressively around the country and the world over the next few years.

While many fast food chains could go bankrupt in 2024 , many more are doing just fine. Some of these familiar fast food entities, as well as some of the most exciting relative newcomers, plan to open dozens of new outlets or more in 2024 alone. Here are the restaurants that will be even more competitive and omnipresent in the coming months, as they're coming to your town (and dozens of others) with new pick-up, dine-in, and drive-through outlets.

Shake Shack

One of the most prominent rising stars in fast food this past decade has been Shake Shack. The chain, founded by New York restaurateur Danny Meyer, seeks to take fast food, often maligned and associated with low-quality, cheap ingredients, to a new level. Whether from a  new menu sections built by AI  or its classic offering of burgers and dogs, Shake Shack serves food that's have never been frozen. It even includes blends that have been processed by high-end butchery Pat LaFrieda from antibiotic-free, vegetarian diet-fed, humanely treated cattle. It's a careful, and heavily involved formula, but it's one that's worked, as the chain has exploded since its 2004 origin into a collection of 328 restaurants around the United States. 

In 2024, Shake Shack will expand even more, planning to grow by more than 15% by year's end. In the first three months of the year, eight new Shake Shacks opened for business, the first strike in a planned string of 80 new outlets. It will continue to open in major metropolitan areas, as has been the model thus far, while placing stores in cities and countries not yet blessed with a Shake Shack. New locations in suburban areas of New Jersey and Illinois include the first drive-through-enabled Shake Shacks in those states, while the chain will expand its operations in California's Orange County and Pam Desert regions. The restaurant will also open its first outposts in Pittsburgh and Canada, with a flagship branch planned for Toronto.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Joining the ranks of Jamba, Frutta Bowls, and myriad other chains that serve up blended fruit and related products very quickly, Tropical Smoothie Cafe opened its first location in the actually tropical Florida back in 1993. It didn't really start growing until it found its first franchisee five years later, and then steadily expanded — store number 500 opened in 2016, and store number 1,000 followed in 2021. 

That growth pattern of the '10s and '20s is the one Tropical Smoothie Cafe plans to keep following. After opening 176 new locations in 2023 — 70% with the aid of existing franchise operators — the chain received a massive cash infusion and wave of corporate support via a purchase by private equity firm Blackstone. The new owners got down to work and set about moving the chain into more markets as quickly as possible, signing the paperwork on 258 new franchise agreements. Those stores should be open by the end of 2024 and into the early months of 2025. Tropical Smoothie Cafe is quickly expanding in Utah, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, while wading into southern Illinois and nontraditional locations, such as a shop in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Raising Cane's

Into the crowded fast food sub-section of Southern-style fried chicken came Raising Cane's . The first location opened in Louisiana in 1996 and unlike competitors like Popeyes and KFC, with bone-in chicken and myriad side options, Raising Cane's boldly sells only boneless chicken fingers and a small menu of add-ons:  fries, coleslaw, and toast. By late 2023, the chain had slowly but surely grown into a system of 700 restaurants in 40 states. That includes a concerted expansion effort in 2023, which saw the opening of a new store every three days on average, and in 15 brand-new markets to boot. 

Raising Cane's will keep up the brisk, ambitious pace in 2024, with plans to open a total of 90 new chicken shops by the time 2024 ends, meaning it will reach 900 locations before long. That includes a large, flagship-style location set to open in Nashville, joining similar lofty Raising Cane's stores in Times Square, Las Vegas, and Miami Beach, as well as doubling its footprint in New York City.

Krispy Krunchy Chicken

Krispy Krunchy Chicken doesn't operate out of the traditional fast food environment of freestanding locations with drive-through windows and seating areas for customers. Instead, the Louisiana-founded server of spicy, Cajun-inspired fried chicken, chicken strips, fried fish, and traditional sides, leases space in public places where hungry people tend to congregate, such as in gas stations, convenience stores, casinos, college student unions, and truck stops. 

It's cheaper to open and operate a Krispy Krunchy Chicken as opposed to other, standalone fast food restaurants, and the chain has grown to occupy nearly 3,000 locations in 47 states through the end of 2023. That was a very big year for the chicken company — in 2023, 481 new Krispy Krunchy Chicken spots opened up. A new one sprung up at a rate of more than one per day, and in 2024, the growth will be even more pronounced. Krispy Krunchy Chicken aims to get 700 new outlets up and running by 2025, primarily with the aid of franchisees.

Wendy's is in a precarious spot in 2024, as it's simultaneously growing and shrinking. In May of this year, the chain announced that sales were up in its 6,000-odd American stores by a margin of 0.6%, and globally (7,200 stores altogether) by 0.9%. That's not enough growth to the corporate headquarters' liking, however — during an investors' earnings call, Wendy's disclosed that it would shut down a total of about 100 restaurants during the calendar year. In the first quarter of 2024, 27 Wendy's already closed for good.

However, the chain is reallocating resources and giving itself a slow, soft reboot. Because while it shut down more than two dozen restaurants, it also opened 35 new ones in early 2024. That was just a sample of an overreaching plan to launch somewhere between 250 and 300 new Wendy's restaurants in 2024, with about a third of those gracing the U.S.

It's likely that those new restaurants will take on the new Wendy's construction model, known as "Global Next Gen." Featuring a more modern architectural look and design, the newfangled Wendy's are built to cater to customers' needs in the digital age, including shelving for mobile orders, a walk-up window, spots for delivery app drivers to park, and self-service ordering stations.

McDonald's pioneered the entire concept of fast food. After Ray Kroc took over the small but bustling burger business operated by the McDonald brothers in the 1950s, he oversaw its expansion into a global brand selling American-style burgers, fries, shakes, and  the best fountain soda to an immensely welcoming audience. No restaurant chain has more outlets worldwide than McDonald's does, with 41,882 total outposts around the globe, with about a third of those situated in the United States.

In the face of dozens of upstarts and competitors in the quick-serve sector overall and burgers specifically, McDonald's plans to stand its ground and to just keep growing. In 2023, the company's corporate office announced a plan to open restaurant number 50,000 by 2027. That works out to just over 8,000 new McDonald's restaurants opening up in just four years' time. On a late 2023 earnings call with investors, McDonald's brass revealed that it wants to spend about $1.5 billion in 2024 to open a total of 2,100 new locations before the year is out, with 500 of them coming to the already fairly saturated U.S.

Not only is Cava a fairly new restaurant on the American fast food landscape, it also represents a cuisine that's never significantly gone national in the quick-serve realm. Cava serves a menu of traditional and modern Mediterranean-inspired dishes, utilizing feta, hummus, falafel, tzatziki, tahini, and Kalamata olives in its bowls, salads, and pita sandwiches.

After its team of Greek-American founders opened one restaurant in 2010, the restaurant quickly grew into a chain. According to a study by Yelp , it's the fastest growing new restaurant brand in the U.S., with a 54% rise in customer attention between 2022 and 2023, and it's of particular interest to consumers in Georgia, California, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Also in 2023, Cava added 72 new restaurants to the chain, pushing it past the 330-outlet mark. In 2024, Cava plans to open around 50 spots, the latest strike in a plan that will eventually expand the company to 750 restaurants, because that's how many locations a brand new production facility in Virginia will be able to service.

Slim Chickens

Opening in 2003, the first Slim Chickens operated out of a failed sushi joint in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Owner Greg Smart grew the chicken-centric fast food restaurant — which sells poultry in the form of tenders, wings, sandwiches, and as the basis of bowls and alongside waffles — very slowly, expanding to a second location in 2005 and allowing in franchisees much later, in 2014. 

By the summer of 2019, when a chicken sandwich war between Chick-fil-A and Popeyes rocked the fast food world and demonstrated a massive demand for the burger alternative, Slim Chickens comprised 84 restaurants, mostly in the South and Midwest. Over the next few years it grew bigger each year, opening five, 28, and then 31 restaurants. 

Slim Chickens enjoyed its most expansive year ever in 2023, opening up 53 new outlets in 10 new markets, including a stand at the big and busy Istanbul Airport in Türkiye. Emboldened by all that upward momentum, Slim Chickens is primed to open many more restaurants. The 250-unit chain will open at least 70 shops in 2024, which represents a fraction of the 400 deals that it's signed with developers and franchisees. After recently moving into new markets like Nevada and Wisconsin, Slim Chickens will focus on building drive-through-only restaurants and setting up shop inside of other businesses and locations, such as college campuses, sports venues, and train depots.

Chipotle helped create and popularize the fast-casual format, which offers sit-down restaurant quality (and in-house seating) at a price and formality level just slightly elevated from that of the usual fast food. One of the fastest-growing restaurant chains of the 2000s, the 1,000th Chipotle Mexican Grill started selling burritos, tacos, and burrito bowls in 2010; Chipotle no. 3,000 came along just 12 years later. At the time, the company revised its previously stated goal of eventually operating 6,000 restaurants in North America, in favor of going for 7,000.

As of 2024, Chipotle is on its way to hitting that number, with 3,465 locations in the United States. In 2023, for example, the company added 271 restaurants to the chain, and most of those were outfitted with a drive-through, takeout feature called the "Chipotlane." As 2024 unfolds, Chipotle expects to continue apace, opening somewhere between 285 and 315 new stores. Most of those restaurants will come to the U.S., although the year will see Chipotle open its first locations in Asia, with store openings planned for Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers

A great many fast food chains serve hamburgers and milkshakes — Freddy's differentiates itself from all of the others with its menu of made-to-order "steakburgers" and frozen custard, a richer, thicker, eggier, slow-churned ice cream variant. Positioning itself as an old-fashioned kind of eatery, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers has only been around since 2002, but in recent years it's experienced some rapid growth. In 2023, the mostly Midwestern and Southern U.S. chain opened 62 new restaurants, the most it ever launched in a single year, and which allowed it to sail past the 500-outlet benchmark.

The Freddy's plan for 2024 and beyond is even more ambitious and expansive. The company signed in excess of 550 contracts with developers looking to open new stores. And of those outstanding deals, 140 new Freddy's spots have entered  at least an early stage of construction. By the end of 2024, Freddy's estimates that 65 of those brand-new restaurants will be open for business.

Starbucks has been very successful in bringing its Americanized version of European cafés to the rest of the world. In 2024, the espresso, coffee, and pastry chain was named the second-largest restaurant company on the planet. Its network now comprises 38,587 stores, what with 3,000 or so new openings in 2024, allowing Starbucks to pass Subway and trail only McDonald's in terms of most units globally.

That's a lot of Starbucks coffee shops, and the company won't be slowing down its expansion anytime soon. In late 2023, in a nod to its familiar drink ordering style, Starbucks publicly revealed its years-long growth plan, "Triple Shot Reinvention with Two Pumps." The coffee purveyor wants to build more than 16,000 new cafés by the end of the decade, reaching the 55,000-store milestone in time for 2030. By the time Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte makes its fall 2024 comeback, the company should be close to completing one of the first phases of the expansion program. It aims to remodel 1,000 existing stores with ceiling tiles that better absorb the loud sounds of coffee shops along with opening 650 new shops.

Jersey Mike's

The expansion of Jersey Mike's into a formidable national sub sandwich chain that can compete with Subway has been long in the works. Company founder Peter Cancro bought a small New Jersey sandwich shop in 1975, but it didn't really start growing until franchising started in 1987. As of 2014, 730 sandwich shops were open to the public with another 1,400 on the way. A full decade later, Jersey Mike's is a huge chain of more than 2,917 locations, operating in all 50 U.S. states.

And while Jersey Mikes has some menu items you should think twice about ordering , it's still looking to open as many new stores as possible over the next few years. With eyes pointing forward to one day being a 5,000-unit company, Jersey Mike's is set to launch 350 new shops in 2024, and then at least 400 more in each of the next two years. The chain will focus predominantly on domestic expansion, but it will venture outside of the U.S. in a significant way for the first time, having reached an agreement with a Canadian restaurant operator to open 300 locations by 2034, including five in Ontario scheduled to open this year.

Jack in the Box

As a fast food company with a disparate menu that includes burgers, tacos, and teriyaki bowls, and which used to have its own boy band, Jack in the Box isn't shy about moving into new, uncharted territory. Its recent expansion tactics have been tentative, opening a modest 20 new units in fiscal 2023. Those new stores are part of a slew of 389 new agreements Jack in the Box has put into place since early 2021, with 123 restaurants set to open in the immediate future, with the rest all popping up sometime between the next two and seven years.

Jack in the Box will expand even where it's already dominant, including California, where the company has about 900 restaurants, as well as into untested markets. The first Jack in the Box restaurants will open for business in Montana, Wyoming, Florida, and Arkansas. In a big international move, there are contracts in place for 22 new Jack in the Box restaurants across the northern region of Mexico, the company's first attempt to operate in that country since the 1990s. Moving forward, Jack in the Box will increasingly utilize a new building design as the company moves into a red and purple branding design, along with drive-through only stores optimized for both customers and delivery app drivers.

The reason so many more Del Taco restaurants are opening in 2024 and beyond, encroaching into the Mexican-inspired fast food realm synonymous with Taco Bell, is because its new corporate parent took an interest. Fellow California-prominent chain Jack in the Box bought the whole of Del Taco for $575 million in 2022 when the company consisted of around 600 outlets in 16 states. That number is set to grow in the coming months and years.

In 2023, Jack in the Box signed contracts with 138 franchisees looking to open a Del Taco restaurant. The taco-forward chain's expansion is targeted to expand quickly across the southeastern United States, including new spots in Texas, where there were previously no Del Tacos, and Florida. At the end of 2023, there were seven restaurants in that state; soon, 52 stores are set to open in Florida. The first Del Taco popped up in Virginia in 2024, with Montana and Wyoming set to receive their first outlets. Meanwhile, the company is experimenting with installing Del Tacos inside of truck stops and convenience stores. Twelve are already operational, with at least four more on the way.

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EU moves toward using profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, but slowly

A bell tower of the Saint Sophia Cathedral is seen through the destroyed Russian artillery cannon in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations have decided to approve an outline deal that would keep in reserve the profits from hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian central bank assets that have been frozen in retaliation for Moscow’s war in Ukraine , an EU official said.

The tentative agreement, reached late Monday, still needs formal approval but is seen as a first step toward using some of the 200 billion euros ($216 billion) in Russian central bank assets in the EU to help Ukraine rebuild from Russian destruction.

The official, who asked not to be identified since the agreement was not yet legally ratified, said the bloc “would allow to start collecting the extraordinary revenues generated from the frozen assets ... to support the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

How the proceeds will be used will be decided later, as the issue remains mired in legal and practical considerations.

There is urgency since Ukraine is struggling to make ends meet, and aid plans in the EU and the United States are being held back over political considerations including whether allies will continue helping Ukraine at the same pace as they did in the first two years of the war.

EU leaders will meet on Thursday hoping to approve a 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) support package for Ukraine over the solitary opposition of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Even if using the unfrozen assets, which now go untapped, seems like a practical step to take, many fear that financial weaponization could harm the standing of the EU in global financial markets.

Early this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a “strong” decision this year for the frozen assets in Western banks to “be directed towards defense against the Russian war and for reconstruction” of Ukraine.

The EU step late Monday paves the way if EU nations ever want to impose such measures. Group of Seven allies of Ukraine are still looking for an adequate legal framework to pursue the plan.

The U.S. announced at the start of Russia’s invasion that America and its allies had blocked access to more than $600 billion that Russia held outside its borders — including roughly $300 billion in funds belonging to Russia’s central bank. Since then, the U.S and its allies have continued to impose rounds of targeted sanctions against companies and wealthy elites with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The World Bank’s latest damage assessment of Ukraine, released in March 2023, estimates that costs for the nation’s reconstruction and recovery will be $411 billion over the next 10 years, which includes needs for public and private funds.

Belgium, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union for the next six months, is now leading the talks on whether to seize Russia’s assets. Belgium is also the country where most frozen Russian assets under sanctions are being held.

The country is collecting taxes on the assets. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in October that 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in tax collections were already available and that the money would be used to pay for military equipment, humanitarian aid and helping rebuild the war-torn country.

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Gilles marks 75 years in Fond du Lac, built on its original values of quality food, friendly service and cleanliness

A celebration party is slated for 4-8 p.m. aug. 6..

FOND DU LAC – Fond du Lac's most famous drive-in is celebrating a milestone.

Owners Scott Gilgenbach and Chris Meyer have ushered Gilles Frozen Custard , 819 S. Main St., into its 75th season of sweet treats and sandwiches with car hop service.

"The 75th is just a huge (accomplishment) when you just think about what it takes to run a business and how successful a business has to be to get to 75 years," Meyer said.

Tom Gilles opened Gilles with his wife Doris in 1949, when that part of Main Street was still designated as U.S. 41 and the surrounding area was farmland, according to Meyer. He'd worked for his brother Paul Gilles at Gilles Frozen Custard in Milwaukee for 10 years before bringing frozen custard and the Gillieburger — the Gilles' secret recipe sloppy Joe — to the people of Fond du Lac.

Gilles had to work hard to build up the business, even giving away custard in the early days to introduce it to customers, and he dedicated himself and Gilles to quality products, friendly service and cleanliness.

Before long, customers took notice. The drive-in gained a reputation for Gilles' values, and also became a popular stop for youths in their late-night cruises to and from Lakeside Park.

Gilles' son, Jim Gilles, upheld Gilles' teachings when he took over the business, and those practices were eventually passed down to Gilgenbach and Meyer.

"(Gilles) would come in after we closed, and we called it 'scrub night,'" Meyer said. "After we get done scrubbing, he would take a white towel around and on the corners and go, 'OK, we gotta scrub this corner a little bit better, we gotta scrub that again,' and that just shows how he was so much into having a clean place."

From a quality standpoint, the two continue to get their products fresh from local places like Eden Meat Market, Kewaskum Foods and Engelhardt Dairy, Gilgenbach added.

"It's always been quality, even when it comes to french fries and the oil to cook the french fries and the hot fudge and the caramel," he said. "There's lots of cheaper products out there, and we choose not to use any of those because we want to use high quality. That's just what Mr. G has always done."

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Employees make up much of Gilles' success, owners say

Over the years, Gilgenbach, Meyer and their employees have also become a close-knit family, in some cases literally: their kids work at Gilles, other employees' siblings or children come to work there, and Meyer even met his wife there.

"We can't do it ourselves," Meyer said. "We surround ourselves with good people."

Several employees start as high school students, and some continue through or beyond college. Many employees have been with the business for 20 to 30 years, and others have moved on, though sometimes they or their parents come back to share what they've been up to.

Meyer said they've had employees become successful as doctors, lawyers and other careers, who come back and tell them they didn't know it at the time, but Gilgenbach and Meyer helped teach them their work ethic.

One of their favorite parts of the business has been the connections they've made, both as employees and then as owners.

For instance, Gilgenbach said when he was an employee, he and the others would sit at the picnic tables after close or go to Country Kitchen and talk for hours. Many of them went to different schools, and they would get to know each other, especially on trips to Brewers games or Long Lake, with conversations that went beyond talking about Gilles.

He added that he's noticed the same thing happening with current employees.

"It's fun to see that," he said. "It's just part of growing up for them and seeing them do what we did when we were there."

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Gilles Frozen Custard looks forward to more of the same when celebrating its anniversary

In addition to the core values of the business, little has changed over the years, and Gilgenbach and Meyer don't plan on making any big changes in the future, for the sake of their servers, kitchen space and legacy.

This includes the menu itself, which has longstanding customer favorites like the Gillieburger, grilled cheese, the Gillie Cookie and a variety of sundaes, shakes, slushies and more.

A few sundaes were creations Tom Gilles had brought from his brother's stand in Milwaukee, and some were added to the menu specially for Fond du Lac, including the 41 Special with strawberries, marshmallow and crushed nuts in reference to the original U.S. 41; and Kathy's Caramel Cashew, honoring an employee who had worked at Gilles for more than 50 years before she died of cancer around 2006.

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The sundae Carly Grand is named after Meyer's daughter with her favorite toppings strawberries, hot fudge and pecans, and Gilgenbach's daughter is represented as the topping Rylee's Rainbow Sprinkles.

"When my little girl was about 2 or 3 years old, we would come in here and we had rainbow sprinkles for a sundae, and I told her 'yeah, we call these Rylee's Rainbow Sprinkles' and she just thought that was super cool," Gilgenbach said.

Gilgenbach and Meyer said another highlight over the years has been the parties at Gilles, and the 75th anniversary party will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Aug. 6 featuring DJs, face painting and giveaways.

"It'd be great if Mr. Gilles would be able to — I'm sure he can see it, but you know, actually be here — to witness 75 years, "Meyer said. "He put in so much work to get it to where it is. He laid the foundation."

For more about Gilles Frozen Custard, visit gillesfrozencustardfdl.com .

Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at  [email protected] .