How Much Does Soft Serve Ice Cream Cost Per Serve?
One 100g serve of soft serve ice cream made from Sunwide's Soft Serve Base Powder costs roughly $0.23 in powder, based on a standard recipe and a 45% overrun. This figure covers the base powder only, at Sunwide's publicly listed carton pricing. Water, milk, tea and any flavour powder or syrup are separate and vary by recipe.
Approved wholesale accounts pay less than the carton price shown here, which brings the cost per serve down further. See how to order wholesale to apply.
How do you choose a soft serve base powder?
One base powder covers every flavour a menu needs. Instead of stocking a separate soft serve mix for taro, matcha, oolong and fruit flavours, a single 1kg bag mixes with water, milk or brewed tea, then takes any flavour powder or fruit syrup already on the shelf. That cuts the number of SKUs a shop has to hold and reduces waste from part-used bags of flavour-specific mix.
Sunwide's Soft Serve Base Powder is compatible with both gravity-fed and pump-fed commercial machines, including Taylor, Carpigiani and Spaceman models.
What's the ingredient cost for one 100g serve?
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Base powder | 1kg |
| Water | 2,000ml |
| Fresh milk | 1,000ml |
| Raw mix (before churning) | 4kg |
| Finished volume at 45% overrun | 5.8kg |
| Serves at 100g each | 58 |
| Carton price for 1kg base powder | $13.50 |
| Powder cost per 100g serve | $0.23 |
Water isn't counted, in line with standard costing practice. Fresh milk isn't a Sunwide product, so it isn't priced here either. This figure is the base powder's contribution only. A shop's actual cost per serve also includes whatever milk, tea or flavour ingredient the recipe uses, plus any flavour powder or fruit syrup added on top.
What is overrun, and why does it matter for costing?
Overrun is the increase in volume when air is whipped into the mix during churning. A 45% overrun means 4kg of raw mix yields about 5.8kg of finished soft serve. Ignoring overrun understates how many serves a batch actually makes, which overstates the true cost per serve. Overrun varies by machine and setting, so 45% is a working estimate, not a fixed constant. A shop running a lower overrun will get fewer serves per batch and a higher cost per serve than the figure above.
How do I work this out for a different serve size or recipe?
Multiply the raw mix weight (powder plus water plus milk or tea) by (1 + overrun as a decimal) to get the finished weight, then divide by the serve size in grams. Divide the powder's carton price by the number of 1kg bags used to get the powder cost per batch, then divide by the number of serves. Swap in a flavour powder or fruit syrup at its own carton price to add that ingredient's cost on top.
Does this include milk, flavour or overheads?
No. This is the base powder's cost only. Fresh milk, tea, flavour powders, fruit syrups, labour, rent, wastage and marketing are separate costs that vary by recipe and by store, and aren't included here.
Where do these numbers come from?
Sunwide's publicly listed carton pricing, checked against the Soft Serve Base Powder product page. Approved wholesale accounts receive further discounts on top of this. See how to order wholesale.