The Top 10 Ice Cream Shop Menu Design Ideas (2024)

Whether you need inspiration for a new ice cream shop or you’re cooling on your existing menu, it’s important to take time to test out new restaurant menu ideas.

You’ll want items that balance profitability with popularity and consistently deliver on customer expectations while also expressing the uniqueness of your brand. That’s why we’ve put together tips to help you nail your new ice cream shop menu.

Key Takeaways

• Balance Popularity with Profitability: Done through a combination of serving popular items, mastering the basics of ice cream, exploring add-ons, and calculating your costs.

• Embrace Regional Menu Favorites: Don’t be afraid to embrace some regional flavors. They may resonate in your area, and gain you a loyal customer base.

• Give Customers a DIY Experience: Monetize this customer experience with a slight upcharge. It could be “make your own sundae” or some other DIY frozen dairy idea.

• Offer Other Sweet Treats: There’s an appetite for products other than ice cream. Test them out as means of monetization.

• Get Creative with What You Can Freeze: There are tons of options available that you can create with fruits alone. You can freeze bananas, strawberries, or even apples.

• Consider Coffee to Boost Sales: If you find that older customers aren’t buying ice cream very often, it may be worth adding more adult items to your menu, like coffee.

• Effective Ice Cream Shop Menu Designs: An effective ice cream shop menu design is crucial. It not only showcases your flavors and specials but also boosts your branding.

Let's dive into these examples.

Engineer your menu to balance popularity with profitability

Give the people what they want while boosting your bottom line. Here are a few ideas to help you strike that balance:

1. Serve popular menu items

Designing an appealing ice cream shop menu involves including both classic and modern items that customers will love. Here are some ideas:

Classic Ice Cream Flavors

• Vanilla Ice Cream: Timeless and versatile

• Chocolate Ice Cream: A staple for all ages

• Butter Pecan: Rich and nutty

• Mint Chocolate: Refreshing and indulgent

• Strawberry Cheesecake: Creamy and fruity

• Sorbet: A lighter, dairy-free option

Sweet Treats

• Banana Split: Combines scoops of ice cream, bananas, whipped cream, and hot fudge

• Ice Cream Sandwich: Various cookie and ice cream combinations

• Fudge Brownie Sundae: Rich brownies topped with ice cream and hot fudge

• Birthday Cake: Flavored ice cream or actual cake slices

Fun Flavors

• Peanut Butter Cup: Features chunks of peanut butter cups

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Vanilla ice cream with raw cookie dough pieces

• Caramel Swirl: Ice cream with ribbons of caramel

• Butterscotch: Sweet and buttery

Toppings and Add-Ons

• Whipped Cream and Marshmallow: Light and fluffy

• Hot Fudge and Chocolate Syrup: Essential for sundaes

• Chocolate Sprinkles and Toffee: Crunchy toppings

• Caramel Swirl and Butterscotch Drizzle: Sweet sauces

• Pretzel Pieces: Adds a salty contrast

• Oreos: Crushed cookies mixed in

• Root Beer Floats: Classic drink with vanilla ice cream

Refreshing Drinks

• Milkshakes: Customizable blended drinks

• Smoothies: Made with frozen fruits and sorbet

• Frozen Coffee Drinks: For a caffeine kick

2. Master the basics

Ice cream can be temperamental. 

Making, storing and serving it requires walking a fine temperature tightrope. No amount of creativity can fix a scoop that’s soupy or rock hard. 

Nail the ice cream first, before focusing on other items such as homemade waffle cones, cookies, brownies, etc. Anything you’re investing time and money in should provide returns that justify the costs. 

Don’t be afraid to pull those extra items if your customers aren’t interested. Otherwise, you’ll end up tossing out unsold inventory. 

3. Look at modifiers and add-ons

Cones, toppings, and other add-ons can be a great, low-cost way to pad your margins. 

But you’ll need to strike a balance. You don’t want to be that place that nickels and dimes patrons with ridiculous upcharges. Look at what local and regional competitors charge for cones and other add-ons.

4. Calculate your costs

Measuring profitability starts with controlling costs — and controlling your costs starts with consistently calculating them. 

A focus on profitability doesn’t mean that every new menu item has to be a heavy-lifting money maker. Remember, you have to strike a pricing balance— but if you can dig out costs while maintaining prices, there’s your profit bump.

It all starts with a strong, consistent data foundation. For the restaurant industry, this means invoice processing automation. These tools, such as xtraCHEF by Toast, digitize critical pricing details within your invoices, freeing up time to ideate new ice cream flavors and toppings.

Effective ice cream shop menu examples 

Embrace regional favorites — even if they’re not your own

There are tons of culinary peculiarities across the country when it comes to ice cream. Don’t be afraid to embrace some of these regional flavors. You may find that they resonate in your area, and that you gain a loyal customer base of transplants!

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One such example is the Blue Moon Ice Cream from The Chocolate Shoppe. It’s a Michigan favorite, sold at Yogi’s Pizzeria and Ice Cream Emporium in Nashville, TN.

Give customers a DIY experience

It could be “make your own sundae” or some other DIY frozen dairy idea. And you can monetize the experience with a slight upcharge. Maybe a regular sundae is $3 while a DIY version is $5 or even $6. Again, balance is key.

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Here’s a great example of a DIY bar… Egger’s Ice Cream Parlor. 

Offer other sweet treats

If you think there’s an appetite for products other than ice cream, test them out as means of monetization. An easy entry point is to partner up with other sweet sellers. See if they'll sell to you at a markdown, and then you can mark up to achieve your own bit of margin.

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Here’s an example of expanding your product offering without taking on a ton of risk. Cary Dairy Ice Cream Cafe partnered with local Riverside Bakery to bring in some new sweet treats.

Get creative with what you can freeze

You’ve got the freezers — why not use them to test frozen menu offerings beside ice cream? There are tons of options available in fruits alone. You can freeze bananas, strawberries, or even apples.

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Here’s an example of Sloan’s Ice Cream selling a frozen candied apple.

Consider coffee to boost sales

Maybe your ice cream sales skew toward kids. Sales are sales, but if you find that older customers aren’t imbibing very often, it may be worth adding more adult items like coffee.

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Therapy Ice Cream and Coffee Bar has leaned all the way into the coffee scene.

Effective ice cream shop menu designs

When it comes to attracting customers and enhancing their experience, an effective ice cream shop menu design is crucial. It not only showcases your flavors and specials but also sets the tone for your ice cream shop’s brand. 

Our custom templates are tailored to highlight your unique offerings, whether you’re featuring classic cones or modern sundaes. 

Like these templates? Visit this page and insert your email, and we’ll send them over to you in the form of editable Microsoft PowerPoint files so you can use them both digitally and in print.

Make it your own 

If you’re going to build an ice cream shop that lasts, you'll need to take control of your costs while testing new ideas to boost sales. Mixing up menu items can keep folks coming back to your shop week after week.

Looking for more support with your ice cream shop? Don’t miss On the Line’s article on how to open an ice cream shop, with tons of ideas for nailing your new business from the get-go.

Related Ice Cream Resources

• Ice Cream Shop Name Ideas

• Ice Cream Shop Business Plan

• Ice Cream Shop Ideas and Concepts

• Ice Cream Shop Licenses and Permits

• Ice Cream Shop Design Ideas

• Ice Cream Shop Floor Plans

• Ice Cream Shop Supplies