This Woman Started Selling Ice Cream From Her Bike—Now She Makes Over $250K A Year
In 2014, Katherine O’Brien got an idea that would change her life. She was biking to her corporate job through Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, an area filled with commuters and tourists. “I bet people would buy a ton of ice cream on a hot summer day,” she thought to herself.
She found a pink bike with a freezer attached to the front to hold ice cream. After a few months developing the perfect cookie for her homemade ice cream sandwiches—she said the secret is definitely in the cookie—she set out on the Cream Cruiser to sell her treats. The first summer, in 2015, she made $25,000 from selling homemade ice cream sandwiches at a local farmers’ market. The following summer, her revenue more than doubled.
“And the cool thing about a business model like this is it’s simple,” O’Brien said. “It’s not super high risk.”
What started off as a weekend hobby eventually turned into a business that could fully support O’Brien, who has come to be known as the Ice Cream Bike Lady. The Cream Cruiser has catered over 700 events and sold over 160,000 ice cream sandwiches. She has sold $1.6 million in product in total, with only a few employees, two bikes, and one cart.
To get her business off the ground, O’Brien invested less than $10,000. The Cream Cruiser quickly grew a following and expanded into catering weddings and other events. She took a brief detour to move into the wholesale business, but the Covid-19 pandemic brought challenges that helped her refocus primarily on catering and selling ice cream from her bike.
She began documenting her journey on her Instagram account @icecreambikelady, and started coaching clients who wanted to learn how to start their own bike business. “I started sharing my journey and it kind of just grew on its own,” she said.
With so much interest, she put all of her knowledge and experience into Bike Business University, a self-paced course to teach others how to build their own bike business in about four months.
“I truly feel like anybody would be capable of creating something like the Ice Cream Bike business,” she said. Given the relatively low start-up cost compared to other brands, she said it’s a great seasonal business idea.
For $874, Bike Business University gives students a variety of resources like training videos, budgeting, product-development tools, and support from O’Brien.
“It’s been a super fun addition to the business, but also I love seeing everybody’s different brands and stories sort of come to life.”
A community has formed around Bike Business University, where entrepreneurs connect and share their stories through monthly Zoom meetings and private Facebook groups.
Between catering and Bike Business University, O'Brien says she consistently brings in at least $25,000 per month.
But even if you’re not looking to start your own ice cream bike business, O’Brien has some entrepreneurial advice for those looking to start their own business.
“Start before you’re ready,” she said. “Just be okay getting out of your comfort zone and just rolling with the punches and trust yourself enough to know that you’ll figure it out.”
Since that fateful commute to her 9-to-5 job back in 2014, her initial idea has taken on a life of its own, proving that no dream is too small or crazy. Looking ahead, she plans to grow her e-commerce business and add new products that can ship nationwide. She just added gourmet-flavored Freezie Pops to her online store.
“Truly I think it’s the most fun job in the whole entire world,” she said.
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