Jan 15, 2006
How Do You Control Ice Cream Portions Served?
By Jason Lexell

Portion control was very important. You'd need to instill that fact in your employees. It's really a training issue and requires constant monitoring.

Since you aren't dealing with large profit margins every bit counts. If a small cone is supposed to weigh 3.25 ounces and you are giving away 4 ounces, to be generous, it can really add up. Most of the people working are kids and will be tempted to be extra nice to friends.

It's just like in the bar business. If you have a bartender that is over pouring it can really hurt the bottom line.

I combated this by working very hard to teach the proper serving sizes to my employees. You want to make sure your customers don't feel cheated, but you can't overdo it. You must watch things closely.

I'd suggest other ice cream businesses consider posting the ounces for each cone and then using a scale. We never did this, but I think it could work well. You don't want the customers to feel cheated and a scale can easily solve that issue. By using a scale and charging customers by the ounce you can price fairly.

It's true you may also risk offending the customer by weighing. It really comes down to training your help and monitoring them. You can be busting at the seams with customers, but if you are giving away your profits you will lose money.