How does an ice cream or froyo shop stay busy in winter?

Cold weather does not end the craving. It changes where people eat. Placer.ai, a location-data firm, studied visits to ice cream chains. Summer guests tended to sit down with their cones. Winter guests were more likely to take their ice cream to go.

Home is already the favorite spot. In a spring survey for the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), 58% of adults named home as their favorite setting for ice cream. A winter plan meets them there. It sells things that leave the shop.

So the winter job has three parts. Give people a new flavor to try. Give them a warm reason to come in. Then give them something to carry home or give away.

Start with flavor, because guests do. In the same survey, 72% of adults called flavor very important when they buy ice cream. No other factor came close.

Add two or three winter flavors, not ten. Pick ones your staff can make well every day. Peppermint, gingerbread, eggnog and pumpkin pie are common picks. Give each one an end date. Guests come back sooner for something that leaves.

Then add warmth. Hot fudge was the favorite topping of 31% of adults in that survey. A warm brownie under a scoop fits a cold day. So does espresso poured over vanilla. Each one uses tools a scoop shop often has already.

Franchisees should clear new flavors and prices with the franchisor before the boards change. Some brands send a winter menu of their own, so ask what you may add locally. To set the price, follow how to price a limited-time offer.

Take-home sales carry a scoop shop through the cold months. Keep a freezer of hand-packed pints by the register. Stock it with the seasonal flavors and your top sellers. Put the price on a small card in front.

Ask at every order, the way a café asks about a pastry. One line is enough: “Want a pint of this to take home?” Put that line on the register screen, and staff will say it.

Delivery apps help here too. A pint travels better than a cone. List pints and quarts as their own items, each with a clear photo. The DoorDash guide covers the menu setup.

Ice cream cakes are part of how people celebrate. In the IDFA survey, 21% of adults chose a birthday party ice cream cake as their most American ice cream memory. Holidays bring the same need for a dessert that feeds a table.

Sell them by pre-order only. Open orders two to three weeks before Thanksgiving. Open them again before Christmas. Take payment when the order is placed. Set a pickup window and a cap your freezer can hold.

That money arrives in weeks when the window is quiet. The order list also tells you how much to make. Little goes to waste.

Gift cards are a December habit. The National Retail Federation found that 43% of shoppers planned to buy at least one over the 2025 holidays. Most said they would pick a restaurant, bank or department store card.

A card sold in December is a visit in January or February. Those are the months you need it. Put cards by the register and on your website. Sell small amounts that fit in a stocking.

The fees are small. Square, a register company, lets shops set up eGift cards for free. It charges up to a 2.5% load fee when money goes on a card. The normal card fee applies too. A tap at the counter costs 2.6% + 15 cents. An eGift order online costs 2.9% + 30 cents.

In a franchise, the franchisor often runs one gift card program for every store. Ask before you print your own. For more ways to sell them, see how to sell more gift cards for the holidays.

Shorter hours are fine. Surprise hours are not. A guest who finds a locked door may decide you closed for the season. Some will not come back to check.

Post winter hours on the door, on your website and on Google. Google’s help page says to set special hours for holidays and other temporary periods. Do it before each holiday, not after. The Google Business Profile guide covers the rest of the listing.

A new flavor that nobody hears about sells like an old one. Film it yourself first. A short clip of the scoop, the hot fudge pour or a cake being boxed is enough. Post it the day the item launches.

Then let other people show it. Local food creators post what is new in town, and a winter flavor is news. Invite one or two in the first week of each launch. Ask them to tag your shop’s location.

Paid ads can carry your strongest clip further. A small test is enough. In our example, $10 a day for 14 days costs $140. Aim it at people within a short drive of the shop. The Facebook ads guide shows the setup.

If you would rather not run the outreach, CreatoRain’s in-house team books creators from its food-creator network to visit your stores. Each one films your winter menu. The team pays each creator and follows up until the video is live. Each video costs $300, and the creator’s pay is part of that price.

Each step gives guests one new reason to come in. For the rest of the year, see how to build a marketing calendar.

Compare each winter week with the same week last year. Weather moves the numbers, so judge a whole month, not one cold day.

Keep what sold, and drop what did not. Next winter starts from that list.