Ice Cream Machines: Why Buy Used Instead of New

Before we started Slices Concession in 2008, we owned and operated a Gelato and Frozen Dessert shop for 5+ years. Since then, we’ve helped a large variety of businesses start their own frozen dessert operations. We’ve helped everyone from small gas stations to large frozen yogurt and confectionary businesses.

Selling frozen dessert can produce profit margins of up to 90%. Making the decision to invest in a used ice cream machine is the first step in helping you increase your bottom line as soon as possible.

Reason One: Pricing and Value Retention

New ice cream machines cost about $12,000-$26,000. That's a lot of capital, especially if you are just trying to get your business up and running. Not to mention the fact that you may want to have more than just one machine. We recommend starting with one or two machines, and then upgrade them accordingly. Our machines are just a few years old and priced at 40-70% less than new machines on the market. The money you save by buying a used machine can be invested in another facet of your business. 

Whether or not you are starting your business or already established, pricing is an important factor when making any kind of investment. Buying an ice cream machine is the equivalent to buying a car. However, compared to cars, ice cream machines depreciate more quickly.

What does that mean for you?

It means that if you were to buy a new machine on Jan 1, it will depreciate faster and be worth less at the end of the year. Even if a brand new machine was used once, and left untouched for months, the value of that machine drops significantly. Whereas a used machine depreciates less quickly, meaning that the value of that machine drops only a little bit. The significance of buying used vs new comes into play when you decide to sell your machine for whatever reason. Buying new could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in loss (your new purchase price minus your selling price), whereas buying used, the difference might only be a few hundred dollars. 

The bottom line: by investing in a used machine that depreciates more slowly, you save money.

Reason Two: High Quality Brands

When you buy a car, you tend to trust well known brand names who have decades of experience. The same is true for ice cream machines. We only offer the most durable and highest quality brands such as Taylor, Carpigiani, Stoelting, and Technogel. These companies have at least 50+ years of perfecting and improving their ice cream and frozen drink technology in order to provide long lasting, quality machines.

There are Korean and Chinese made machines which are significantly cheaper than brand name machines and are marketed as power saving. However, the problem with many of these Korean and Chinese made machines is that there compressors and beater motors are underpowered. This results in added stress on the machine and causes it to give out around 1-2 years of use. For this reason, we do not carry Korean or Chinese made machines.

The bottom line: by investing in a used, brand name machine, you will save yourself time, money, and hassle in the future. 

Reason Three: Our Expertise 

We know and understand this is a big investment. We do our best to ensure your machine is in the absolute best condition. We make sure that all of our machines pass a rigorous 22 point inspection: 

Before we buy and before we sell a machine, we inspect every nut and bolt in the machine. Our in-house technicians have over 10 years experience in diagnosing, repairing, inspecting, sanitizing and rebuilding ice cream and frozen desserts machines.

 Slices Concession has a plethora of quality used machines available. We can guide you in the right direction and help you with ice cream shop start up costs to gearing you towards the right ice cream shop equipment and show you how to make the most of your investment. Whether you are in a soft serve ice cream trailer or store location, we can steer you towards best soft serve ice cream business plan that will fit your needs. 

FEEL FREE TO BROWSE OUR MACHINES