NICFBD Resources – Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream

National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is absolutely, without a doubt, one of our favorite times of the year. It's a day where we can connect with our customers, boost our top of mind status for celebrations and family fun, and bring in great revenue, all on a winter morning!

Event Summary

National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is a holiday started by a parent in snowy New York who needed a way to entertain her children in February. After exhausting all the common and logical go-tos, she started a family tradition of Ice Cream for Breakfast on the first Saturday of February. With boredom being a universal feeling among families everywhere in February, the tradition caught on and spread until it became a nationally celebrated event.

In our shoppes we’ve celebrated National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day for years by opening our doors early at 8am, wearing our pjs, serving up freshly made waffle sundaes and donut ice cream sandwiches, and generally being silly and having fun with our customers.

Making the event fun has motivated our customers to build their own family traditions around visiting every February. It’s helped us build customer loyalty and become a great winter revenue boost. With the help of great weather, we had one year where Ice Cream for Breakfast Day was our second top grossing day for one of our shoppes out of the full year. Guys, we’re in Wisconsin, real revenue in February is insanity.

Fun Details to incorporate

Plan a special morning breakfast menu consisting of local or fresh-baked items
- Baked-to-order waffle sundaes
- Local donut sammies
- Local fresh coffee
- Fill topping holders with colorful and nostalgic cereal
Create and print cute breakfast menus
Create and print breakfast or sunday funnies-themed coloring pages
Set up a selfie station with a backdrop for customers to capture their memories (encourage tagging you)
Decorate your shop with streamers and balloons
Themed music of nostalgic saturday morning cartoon theme songs
Have your staff dress in pajamas for the shift
Encourage customers to come in pajamas
Surprise giveaways! Visit with customers in the dining room, celebrate with them, and give away free scoop coupons for adorable pajamas or enthusiastic participation

Pre-event promotion

Facebook event page (here’s how we set up ours)
Post event details, menu items and prep on social media to boost awareness and engagement
Create event posters to put in your shop windows and ask if local businesses you collaborate with could put them up in their windows
Create event flyers to keep at your registers
Send press release to tv stations, radio stations and newspapers

Tips for success

Be. Ready. Early! On normal days our busiest hours are in the afternoons or evenings, but on Breakfast Day we have customers waiting for us to unlock the doors.
Make sure your team is confident in what they’re doing, everything is clean and bright, music is on, and waffles are already hot and rolling when you unlock that door.
Have fun and treat this event like a party. The more fun your team has with your customers and it stands out as something special, the more likely they’ll come back the following year with extra friends in tow.