During the lazy days of summer when I was a kid, one event was guaranteed to get me - and all the other neighborhood kids - very excited!
That was the little tinkly tune of the ice cream man!
Like in many other places, when we heard the ice cream man tune, we dashed inside to get some money (either something we had saved up, or by begging for it from our parents). Then, we dashed outside to get ourselves some delicious ice cream!
Well... One lady has taken this old business... And given it a completely new twist!
She still sells ice cream... And she still does it from a van...
However, she doesn't drive down the street selling ice cream... And when she sells ice cream, she makes no profit! (Yet - it's a very profitable venture for her...)
Here's how it works. She sells her ice cream from her van at
events. And she sells the ice cream at cost. It's the event organizers who pay her - they pay her anywhere from
$350 to $3,000 an hour just to be at the event!
While she doesn't make a direct profit from selling the ice cream to customers, she does make a profit selling non-perishable things like buttons, CDs, and so on - depending on the event.
An old business - with a profitable new twist!
You can read more about it here...
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/f...ion=2007053109
- Dien Rice