Dessert MK: innovating in the mobile dessert space

Admin on 10/09/2017

Dessert MK is an interesting take on ice cream vans. Whereas most ice cream vans sell the usual branded ice lollies, Dessert MK offers their own range of ice cream creations.

Dessert MK

The ice creams, whilst very tasty and luxurious looking, are all simple and cheap to create, using ice cream from a whippy machine, flavoured sauces and a selection of chocolates and sweets, meaning that the margin on one £5 tray is probably around 400%, far greater than the few percent of margin a usual ice cream would make from selling branded ice lollies. 

Marketed exclusively on Facebook and relying on word of mouth to build a following, they let fans know where they’ll be that evening on Facebook. This completely different approach to the usual ice cream van approach of turning up where they hope there will be people who want an ice cream when they here the music, Dessert MK guarantees that their customers come to them, wherever they go. 

Dessert MK is disrupting the product range and the marketing approach, it’s entrepreneurial Ice cream. 

Entrepreneurial Schools

Admin on 01/05/2013

Heard a brief thing on the radio about encouraging students in schools to be more entrepreneurial by starting a business with £10. It started me thinking how they could do that.

If I were them I would leverage the community aspect of the school to provide stock to sell and as customers. I’d set up an Ebay shop that would be stocked with items donated by students, parents and teachers. However, to make better use of the school community and encourage people to keep providing stock (there needs to be a part of the strategy that considers sustainability), I’d award points to each of the donors based on how much the items they donated sell for, e.g. 1 point for 1 pound. These points can then be redeemed at the school for things like free tickets to school plays.

Of course, it would be promoted via the usual social media channels that kids love, ifttt’d from ebay to FB, TW, IG, etc. The points system could be run on Mailchimp so that everyone involved gets regular emails telling them how many points they have earned and what products are for sale this week.

So, what would the £10 be spent on? The postage of for the first round of items sold until you’ve got some profit to pay the delivery on more items.