Why Ice Cream Could Be the Easiest Way to Grow Your Restaurant or Takeaway Sales?
If you’re a restaurant or takeaway operator in the UK looking for a simple, low-risk way to grow revenue, here’s a profitable idea that often gets overlooked:
Add or optimise your ice cream offering.
Sounds too easy? That’s exactly the point.
Adding ice cream to your menu is one of the most plug-and-play ways to:
📈 Grow your overall sales by up to 3%
💷 Increase your average order value by £1.50–£2
⏳ Cut labour and prep time
🔁 Keep customers coming back
But for this strategy to work, you need more than just a freezer. You need a reliable, insight-driven frozen food supplier who can make it all happen—seamlessly.
⸻
🍦 Ice Cream Isn’t Just a Dessert — It’s a Sales Strategy
When people think about adding a dessert to their menu, they often imagine the complications:
- Will it take too long to prepare?
- Will it require extra kitchen space?
- Will it even sell?
Here’s the good news: ice cream solves all of those concerns.
Done right, ice cream is:
✅ Quick to serve
✅ Easy to store
✅ Loved by customers of all ages
✅ High-margin and low-waste
And most importantly, it drives incremental sales. Many restaurants and takeaways see up to a 3% increase in turnover just by introducing a curated range of ice cream products.
⸻
🔍 Why Ice Cream Works So Well in Takeaway & Fast-Food Settings
Unlike hot desserts or handmade puddings, ice cream requires no skilled labour, no cooking equipment, and very little training. It’s as simple as stock, store, serve.
For takeaways and fast-food operations, this is a major win.
- Low prep time: It’s ready to serve, straight from the freezer.
- Fast service speed: It won’t slow down your operations during rush hours.
- Small storage footprint: Ideal for businesses with limited kitchen or freezer space.
- All-year appeal: Yes, even in winter—think milkshakes, waffles, sundaes.
And best of all: customers are willing to spend more when ice cream is available.
⸻
💸 The Financial Impact of Adding Ice Cream
Let’s break it down:
✅ 1. Increased Average Order Value (AOV)
By simply offering a dessert option like ice cream, you give customers a reason to spend more.
For example:
- Standard meal deal: £7.99
- Meal deal + ice cream: £9.99
That’s a £2 boost per transaction. Multiply that by 40–50 orders a day, and the numbers start to stack up.
✅ 2. Up to 3% Growth in Overall Sales
Our data shows that restaurants and takeaways who consistently stock and promote the right frozen dessert options experience a 3% lift in revenue on average.
✅ 3. Better Margins, Less Waste
Ice cream has:
- A long shelf life
- Low levels of shrinkage
- Minimal waste risk compared to fresh desserts
This means better profit retention, especially for smaller operations.
⸻
🧩 It’s Plug-and-Play — If You Have the Right Supplier
The beauty of adding ice cream is that it’s a ready-to-go concept. But making it work consistently requires the right frozen food supplier.
Why?
Because success relies on:
- Always having the right SKUs in stock
- Understanding what your local customers actually want
- Maintaining quality and temperature control
- Being able to restock quickly, especially before weekends or peaks
If you’re left chasing stock or getting inconsistent deliveries, it’s impossible to build a dessert category that performs.
⸻
🧊 Why Reliable Frozen Supply Is the Secret Ingredient
At On The Rocks, we specialise in helping independent UK restaurants and takeaways introduce and grow profitable frozen categories—especially ice cream.
We’re not just a supplier. We’re a partner to hundreds of businesses that have turned underused freezer space into a revenue stream.
Here’s what makes our approach work:
✅ 7-Day Delivery, Including Evenings
We understand the unique challenges of running a food business. That’s why we deliver 7 days a week, including post-4pm slots—ideal for topping up before busy evenings or weekends.
✅ Fast, Flexible Ordering
No massive minimums. No rigid schedules. We know that smaller kitchens and fast-turnover businesses need small, frequent deliveries, and we’re built to deliver exactly that.
✅ Products Built for Growth
We don’t just deliver what’s convenient—we help you stock what sells. From best-selling cones and tubs to indulgent sundaes, milkshake-ready formats and more, we help you build a tailored range that customers will love.
✅ Quality, Handled Properly
Our operations run on strict cold-chain standards. Our fleet of temperature-controlled delivery vehicles ensures your frozen products arrive in perfect condition, every time.
⸻
Real-World Results: What Our Partners Are Seeing
Here’s what happens when restaurants and takeaways switch their ice cream supply to On The Rocks:
- Sales increases of up to 17% (across full frozen range)
- Reduction in missed sales thanks to reliable, 7-day restocking
- Lower prep and labour costs compared to hot dessert options
- Faster order processing and shorter service times
One of the most common pieces of feedback we hear?
“I wish we’d started this sooner.”
⸻
🚀 You Don’t Need to Be a Dessert Parlour to Succeed with Ice Cream
The beauty of ice cream is its universal appeal. You don’t need to be a dessert shop. In fact, we see some of the best success stories from:
- Chicken shops
- Pizza takeaways
- Curry houses
- Fish and chip shops
- Fast casual restaurants
- Mobile kitchens and dark kitchens
Even just three well-chosen ice cream products can add a new stream of revenue—without disrupting your core menu.
⸻
🧠 Industry Insight, Built In
What makes us different?
The On The Rocks team comes from within the food industry. We’ve worked behind the counters and in the kitchens of fast food, takeaway, and restaurant operations. We understand the pressure of peak times, the limitations of space, and the importance of having products that just work.
That’s why we design our frozen food supply service around your real-world needs—not a one-size-fits-all solution.
⸻
📞 Ready to Test It for Yourself?
We know switching suppliers can feel like a hassle. That’s why we offer a low-risk test so you can see the difference for yourself.
Even if it’s just for a trial run, we’re confident you’ll notice:
📈 Higher basket values
🧊 Better freezer management
🕒 Less time spent chasing stock
💬 More customer satisfaction
⸻
Final Word: Don’t Miss Out on Easy Sales
Adding ice cream could be the simplest way to boost your business this month—without hiring more staff, changing your layout, or overhauling your menu.
And with the right ice cream and frozen food supplier, it’s not just possible—it’s effortless.
⸻
📩 Want to get started or just explore the options?
Message us on LinkedIn, or visit [On The Rocks website] to request a free consultation. We’ll help you build the perfect plug-and-play frozen range to grow your business—one scoop at a time.
⸻
On The Rocks – The UK’s trusted ice cream and frozen food supplier, helping independent restaurants and takeaways grow their sales every day of the week.
