How to Start a Paleta Business

Start a Gourmet Popsicle BusinessSo you love making gourmet popsicles and you’re looking into how to start a paleta business? The best advice we could ever give is to make sure you start off small. Do not overextend yourself by emptying your bank account and maxing out your credit cards!

A gourmet popsicle or paleta business can be established with minimal capital investment and then, over time, small expenditures can be made out of cash flow to increase production, upgrade efficiency and expand awareness of your brand.

Find out how to start an Artisan Ice Pop – Gourmet Popsicle – Paleta Business – this is a complete comprehensive step-by-step guide. Everything you need to know including the most popular paleta recipes. This is the best place to start if you want to open a popsicle shop!

Four Things You Need Right Now to Start a Paleta Business Today

The easiest and quickest way to open a gourmet popsicle business is to start off with cheap plastic popsicle molds, a deep freezer chest, a few clear plastic baggies and popsicle sticks. That’s it! These four items are all you need to get started in the gourmet popsicle business.

Okay, it’s not necessarily that simple. We all know there are other factors of production as well! Labor, natural resources and entrepreneurship are extremely important to the success of a paleta shop. Yes, you have to put in long hours, you will need a large variety of ingredients for recipes and progressive business skills are a must.

However, if you are looking for a business that can be operated by one person on a shoestring budget with minimal barriers to entry and very high profit margins, then starting a gourmet popsicle business should be at the top of your list.

Before Selling Your First Paleta…

How to Start a Paleta BusinessBegin by making small batches and taste testing different paleta recipes with friends and family. Any type of plastic popsicle molds are perfect to start out with and great for making paletas at home. We started with the Norpro and still use them! One Norpro makes ten paletas and they stack perfectly in the freezer.

Most paleta businesses started out making pops in plastic molds at home in the family freezer, then selling them locally on the street, at festivals or in farmers markets.

There are quite a few paleta recipe books out there that can be used for trial runs and expanding your knowledge base. Use ingredients that you enjoy and don’t be afraid to experiment. Creativity is key – just let your imagination run wild.

A Few Facts About Starting a Paleta Business

Most Paleta shops:

  • Are established with little to no investment, working long hours in the family kitchen at home.
  • Use cheap plastic popsicle molds exclusively when starting out. There is no reason to purchase a $10,000, state-of-the-art paleta machine until you know for sure that making gourmet popsicles is your chosen craft.
  • Sell pops locally around town where there is generous foot traffic, in farmers markets, at festivals in small booths or carts, and in small neighborhood shops.
  • Charge at least $3 for a three ounce paleta. This should deliver gross profits of over $2 per unit and gross margins of nearly 75% depending on the cost of ingredients.
  • Begin as a one person operation or family business with no hired help from the outside.

It’s hard work to open a paleta shop and you won’t get rich quick. But, if you are looking for a small business with start-up costs of less than $100 and virtually no overhead generating high profit margins and a quick turnover of minimal inventory, then look no further than the gourmet popsicle business. Also, did we fail to mention that this is a cash business? The bulk of your sales will be in cash – accepting debit and credit cards comes later.

Later, when you start generating positive cash flow in your paleta shop, you can then buy decent commercial stainless steel popsicle molds and that beautiful Paletera machine!

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