One question we get all the time from people who are looking at getting into the business and they're driven to the Hard Scoop ice cream or the American ice cream is should I be selling soft serve? And basically it really depends on your concept and the perception of your concept.

But generally I say yes, the reason why is because soft serve is dramatically, very pliable as a menu product. When you've got a display case there with 12, 24, 30 flavors of Hard Scoop ice cream, there's not a lot you can do so far as customization with that. Whereas soft serve as there's a lot of different facets to it that you can use to just kind of pair very nicely into your existing menu. First of all, you don't need to have a large machine. Carpigani and many of the other manufacturers have a countertop soft serve machine kind of like this one

It doesn't take up a lot of space.

You've got storage underneath it. It can just sit on a counter, but it does allow you just to have a very small footprint, single vanilla barrel where you're pulling some great quality product and you can blend it with different flavors. You can do blended products like Blizzards and Concretes.

It's a product that is very versatile. You can make shakes out of it. You can blend it in to make different types of products. And in this day and age, you don't have to have your grandma's soft serve.

You can put a really rich 810, 11%, either frozen custard or soft serve mix in a machine like this and really have a product that stands alone as a very high quality gourmet product rather than the standard probably four five 6% fat that most people are using. So I really like the fact that you can customize menu items. It doesn't take up a lot of room and you can use it to basically do a line of different products! I'll tell you right now, a lot of chefs in some pretty high end kitchens are buying countertop soft serve machines and incorporating soft serve into their gourmet dessert.

Never used to happen before.

So soft serve is kind of making a comeback here. And I definitely definitely would recommend if you are a premium ice cream shop to have a look at some soft serve options because it will broaden your menu and you're giving something to the kids and a family based demographic that perhaps your competitor is not. Have a look at your local equipment dealer. See what a countertop machines worth? I think you'll find the way that it broadens your menu will actually be a great boon for your business and your customers.

So should I sell soft serve in my hard scoop ice cream shop? Absolutely. Have a look at the pros and cons and pull the trigger on it.