Frost & Roll Creamery (Pty) Ltd is a premium experiential dessert company specialising in handcrafted rolled ice cream, artisan gelato, bubble waffles, milkshakes, frozen desserts and mobile dessert catering. Inspired by the growing demand for experiential dining, the business combines premium dairy ingredients, made-to-order preparation, interactive customer engagement and visually appealing products to create an entertainment-driven dessert destination, where, as the motto puts it, every scoop is a show.
The Company will launch its flagship experiential dessert store in Johannesburg before expanding nationally through shopping-centre kiosks, flagship stores, mobile dessert units, airport concessions and franchising, supported by a central production kitchen and a growing packaged-products business. It seeks R16 million in equity funding to establish flagship operations, the central production facility, cold-chain logistics, technology systems and brand development.
|
R16m Equity sought |
R125m Year-5 revenue |
R34.6m Year-5 EBITDA (27.7%) |
36 Outlets by Year 5 |
The proposition
Sponsor projections show revenue scaling from R18 million in Year 1 to R125 million by Year 5, with EBITDA rising from R3.0 million (16.7% margin) to R34.6 million (27.7% margin). This plan preserves those headline operating projections exactly and independently re-derives the full three-statement model beneath EBITDA, depreciation from the asset register, 27% South African corporate tax with assessed-loss relief, and working capital. On the re-derived numbers the business is profitable from Year 1 and generates roughly R21 million of net profit by Year 5, with the balance sheet tying to zero in every year and a net-cash position throughout.
|
R millions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Revenue |
18 |
35 |
58 |
87 |
125 |
|
EBITDA |
3.0 |
7.2 |
13.8 |
22.4 |
34.6 |
|
EBITDA margin |
16.7% |
20.6% |
23.8% |
25.7% |
27.7% |
|
Net profit after tax (re-derived) |
1.2 |
3.7 |
7.7 |
13.2 |
21.2 |
|
Outlets (stores + kiosks + franchise) |
2 |
6 |
13 |
22 |
36 |
Why this business can win
- A visual, experiential product built for social media. Rolled ice cream made live on a frozen steel plate turns a simple purchase into interactive theatre, inherently shareable content that markets itself to a young, connected audience.
- Riding premiumisation and experiential demand. South Africa’s frozen-dessert market is growing at roughly 7% a year toward US$5.5 billion, with premium and experiential concepts the fastest-growing segment.
- A diversified, multi-format platform. Retail stores, kiosks, mobile catering, delivery, franchising and packaged products create multiple revenue streams and several routes to scale, not a single-store bet.
- Asset-light scalability through franchising. A central production kitchen, standardised recipes and a franchise model allow rapid, capital-efficient growth once the concept is proven, with high-margin fee and royalty income.
- Low kitchen complexity, low food waste. Made-to-order preparation keeps waste low and operations simple and replicable, well suited to kiosks, mobile units and franchisees.
Key findingIndependent findings — summary (detail in Section 18)
The concept is genuinely attractive but the plan should be underwritten with eyes open. The revenue ramp is aggressive (R18m to R125m, a ~62% CAGR) for a start-up in a format that is trend-led and easy to copy, brand, quality and execution are the moat, not the product. The R16 million funds Phase 1; the national rollout depends on reinvested cash and asset-light franchising, and a faster or more company-owned expansion would need further capital. The 27.7% Year-5 margin is a target that relies on the higher-margin franchise, packaged and catering mix maturing. And demand is seasonal and exposed to mall footfall and cold-chain (load-shedding) risk. These are disclosed so the plan can be underwritten on its downside.
How this plan exceeds a template
Unlike an off-the-shelf plan, this document independently re-derives every line below EBITDA, applies South African tax rules explicitly, integrates the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow so the balance sheet ties to zero in every year, tests the liquidity of the rollout against the R16 million raised, and stress-tests the plan against a trend-fade downside and a sensitivity tornado. Every material divergence between the sponsor’s illustrative figures and the re-derivation is disclosed.