How to Freeze-Dry Ice Cream Sandwiches | Great for your small business

[@2guysandacooler]

For those of you who are members we have an early release video just for you!! Be sure to check it out. The video is called "How I fixed the freon leak in my Harvest Right Freeze Dryer | Part 1". If you are not a member of the channel, that video will be available (for everyone) to view next weekend. If you want any info on the Harvest Right Freeze-Dryer, you can visit their website here: tinyurl.com/59ujbnp6

[@ryanjofre]

That would be so amazing to have access to a freeze dryer for making my own backpacking/emergency food and desert experiments!

[@maynardcease6160]

I know there are other ice cream sandwiches in different flavors (like birthday cake). I say pop them different flavors of Klondike bars (including mint chocolate chip) in that freeze drier. Speaking of running a business selling freeze dried ice cream, this is gonna surprise Baskin & Robbins (and other ice cream competitors).

[@cathietoppari]

Thanks for the info. I plan to try doing this for the family.😊

[@davekent20]

Can you put it in the package whole ?

[@2guysandacooler]

Yes

[@McGieHomesteadAdventures]

What a novel idea! I could totally see myself crunching on that!😂

[@2guysandacooler]

They are so crunchy!!! What's cool is after you bite into one the ice cream gets super creamy. It's very interesting!

[@TheBaileyBunch0]

Did you warm the trays first or skip that part?

[@2guysandacooler]

i skipped that part

[@carolclarkson4859]

What is the brand of ice cream freeze dried? Is it great value?

[@MrShomari1]

Y?

[@carolclarkson4859]

@@MrShomari1 I was curious if the inexpensive brands of ice cream freeze dry as well as the expensive brands.

[@MrShomari1]

@@carolclarkson4859 oh.... I see. I was wondering if it was in reference to the great value brand not melting in a timley manner in the sun. Definitely something up with that lol

[@dennisschickling2249]

Happy New Years 2024 🌏 #STAYSAFE #PHILLYPHILLY 🇺🇸

[@dmmikerpg]

Your small business needs an NSF-rated Freeze Dryer. ❤

[@2guysandacooler]

Any suggestions?

[@dmmikerpg]

@@2guysandacooler I think Harvest Right makes a commercial one.

[@2guysandacooler]

Hate to say this but Harvest Right has a lot of work to do before they get any more of my money😬

[@davidfleer5307]

Now before they were freeze dried how many did you eat while cutting them up that would be problem 🤫

[@2guysandacooler]

😂😂😂 So true!!

[@gee9951]

When I put them in the machine, each piece swelled until the vanilla in the middle exploded and spread everywhere, so what is the solution to it?💔😩

[@2guysandacooler]

When the ice cream isn't frozen enough it will do what yours did. The trick is to pre freeze the ice team. Then set your freeze dryer to negative 20 and add extra freeze time. 6 extra hours will do the trick. Make sure your dry temp on the freeze dryer is no higher than 120 f. I would also add some extra dry time. Maybe 6 or 7 hours. Let me know how it turns out.

[@gee9951]

@@2guysandacooler Thank you I will try again today 🥹

[@brianschindler1511]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@maeilive]

How fo you reverse the process??😂

[@homelessalcoholic2716]

Soak them in water!

[@AndrewR74]

Hey Eric, thank you for this. Just a heads up, I had to unfollow you on Facebook because of the amount of scammers.

[@2guysandacooler]

Thanks. I'm unfamiliar with that situation on facebook. What was happening?

[@AndrewR74]

@@2guysandacooler I asked you a question - and very quickly, I had somebody telling me that it's never too late to start over - with a link. Then that same person replied to several of your other video's, and also to other commenters . exactly the same thing. I also had somebody try to proposition me. I don't know if you are putting up the videos, or if Facebook is just pulling crap from your history. But the dry age wraps video, and the basturma video in the last week had the same problem.

[@TheVonhollan]

im glade yocan afford the equipment, what happened to the little guy?

[@2guysandacooler]

I use this freeze dryer in my business. It has already paid for itself several times over. It's a cool addition to my current menu items

[@donotlike4anonymus594]

Seriously man? A 4k device allready paid for itself... i mean i get that it's a bit of a novelty and maybe paid for itself youtube wise but how otherwise... How do you price the snacks and stuff you make Idk maybe people pay a premium for the uniqe but Given that it can take so many hours to make fairly small batches of candy/fruit And takes a lot of electricity and etc What can the margines be for a tray 5-10 bucks? Add to that time/labor and space cuz real estete is expensive and actually i can see how it'd pay for otself in 6 months-year given constant operstion But still i wonder How much of a premium people are willing to pay for certain things

[@davidschmidt8391]

He gets paid on both ends Sells the food gets paid Publishes this video gets paid Probably gets paid by sponsors too

[@2guysandacooler]

Yeah, It's wild!! I'll do a video on how to get a quick return on your investment, but in the meantime here's the breakdown. I use my freeze dryer to make 3 food categories: long term storage, candy, and dog treats. Both the long-term storage foods and the dog treats take the longest to make. Usually, 2-3 days depending on the food. The candy has the quickest turn around as it only takes 2-3 hours to make. The candy has also the shortest preparation time as it's already made. All you have to do is literally stick it in your freeze dryer and your done whereas the dog treats and the long-term storage meals are a bit more involved. The last thing to consider is packaging. Candy and dog treats do not require the use of mylar bags and o2 absorbers or desiccant packs are optional (depends on what's being made). Finally, when I run full freeze dry cycles the unit costs roughly 5 bucks a day (24 hours) to operate. That's roughly .21 cents an hour to use. So, keep all that in the back of your mind while I give you a few examples. Skittles is the easiest example because people love the novelty of having them freeze dried. I can get bulk skittles for $3.83 per pound (www.candymachines.com/Skittles-Candy-40-lbs-P1182.aspx). The cost per ounce is $0.23. In one load that takes 3 hours I can do enough skittles to make 25 portions (or 25 oz). I can charge $2 per ounce for the freeze-dried version. That's gives me earnings of $50.00 per load. I will usually do 4 batches back-to-back (which takes 12 hours total) and once I'm finished, my earnings in 12 hours is $200.00. This gives me 100 portions to sell, but we have to take out the cost for running the machine and the cost for packaging. The machine cost me $2.52 to run for 12 hours and my packaging cost me $0.12 each. My Labels also cost me $0.01 each and let's not forget about the cost of the skittles, which is $23.00 for 4 loads. So, the total cost for me to make 100 packs of freeze-dried skittles is $21.27. When we subtract that from the earnings, we get a profit of $161.48. That's the profit for each day that I do skittles. If I did skittles every day (which I don't) my monthly profit would be $4844.40 (30 days) I usually don't like to overload my inventory with one product so the following day I might do Ice cream sandwiches. Here's the breakdown on that. It takes 24 hours to do Ice cream sandwiches. The total cost to run the machine is $5.00 per batch. I can fit 100 sandwiches per load. Depending on where I get the sandwiches, I can usually get them for $2.80 - $3.00 for 12. Let's call it $3.00 on the high side. That makes each sandwich cost $0.25. One full load will cost me $25 bucks in product, $5 bucks to run the machine, and I'll get 50 portions after it's finished (I like to include 2 sandwiches per portion) so my packaging will cost me $6.00, and my labels will cost me $0.50. Add that up and you have a total cost of $36.50. I will normally charge $4 per portion (but I have seen many people charge $4 for 1 ice cream sandwich, which in my opinion seems high). So, after a batch I will make $200 minus the operating expense, which is $36.50, and that leaves me with a profit of $163.50. Being that Ice cream sandwiches take 24 hours to finish, If I did a batch a day for the entire month my monthly profit would be $4905.00. But I do not do that because I like to diversify. Let's look at dog treats. A huge market with high perceived value and freeze-drying treats makes them a healthier option that dehydrated treats. In this category I do chicken breast, liver, chicken necks, hearts, beef biscuits. All of the treats are raw so there's minimal prep time. These do take a little longer to make, usually 2 days (36 - 48 hours), so to make 1 batch, my cost is $10 bucks in running the machine. If I make chicken necks 1 bag of already processed chicken necks costs me $9.25. I can get a full load out of that which will yield me 69 oz in sellable product. I can charge $4.00 an ounce for freeze dried chicken necks (I do 3oz packs for $12 bucks) so my total earning end up being $276.00. After subtracting machine operating cost ($10), packaging cost ($2.76), label cost ($0.23), and of course the cost for the chicken necks ($9.25) my profit per load is $253.76. This takes 2 days to make so my daily profit is $126.88. If I make chicken necks every other day for 1 month my profits would be $3806.40. This is just 3 examples of many. We do lots of different candy and they each have their margins, we do lots of different dog treats, as well as lots of different long term storage meals. Each one has its own formula, its own costs, and profit margin. Also remember that this is just with one machine. If you had 2 machines or 3 machines you can easily double or triple your profits. There's a reason why there are so many small businesses focusing on making "Freeze Dried" products. In my mind if someone was to get into that space and wanted to be successful, they would be wise to offer a wide range of products. I see lots of "Freeze Dried Candy" businesses and that's all they sell. I do believe that the "freeze dried candy" trend will become old and unless those businesses can transition into something more sustainable, they will not be around for too long. So yeah, this machine has certainly paid for itself (and notice that I did not include any KZbin related income associated with the videos I produce). I'm already buying a second machine and possibly a third. The demand has been unreal... One final thought. Starting a business is no joke, it takes LOTS of hard work and dedication to the cause. Marketing your product, finding your audience, and most importantly selling your product are factors that are just as important as having the right margins. At the end of the day, you have to find your customers and create a balance between having a product that they want at a price that they are willing to pay for it. I started my own business 15 years ago and every day is a new day, new ideas, new customers. It never stops.

[@TheVonhollan]

Thank you i will look into to this more. I have done hams for luncheon meats, and briskets for pastrami and corned beef, A few pork loins into Americanized bacon. Thats were i slice the length not the width. All dry cured and smoked. thanks to your teaching on cure salts and using grams!! Cottage law suits me.@@2guysandacooler

[@mikenicholson2548]

Eric, I'm very disappointed in the fix of your harvest right dryer was for payed people only. You put out a question on KZbin to see who wanted to see the problems, and you did a video for the paying people. Looks like to me the harvest got ahold of you, and you did'ntwant to say the good or bad. That's the problem with so many on KZbin. Bought off from the suppliers of products, they don't want the negativity of their probucts. To bad you got bought off.

[@2guysandacooler]

lol. not this guy, and i thought you knew me better than that 😉. I guess you havent seen the pinned comment on this video. No worries, the "freon leak fix" video will be available for everyone to see this weekend, Saturday to be more precise. I think you'll appreciate my honesty and my frustration😅. On a different note, I have several videos soon to come out about owning a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. I can promise you that the info in those videos will be refreshingly honest and very helpful to those looking to purchase a freeze dryer.