Snow Cone: Servings Per Gallon Of Syrup

Excel Formulas › Snow Cone & Shaved Ice

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A gallon of syrup only makes money if you know how many cones it pours. Divide the gallon's 128 ounces by the syrup you use per cone and round down — you cannot sell a partial cone.

Quick formula: Ounces in the bottle divided by ounces per cone, rounded down:

=ROUNDDOWN(B2/C2,0)

A 128-ounce gallon at 1.5 ounces a cone pours 85 servings — the leftover 0.33 of a cone does not count.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

ROUNDDOWN

The example

Three pour sizes, each dividing a 128-ounce gallon by the syrup used per cone.

	A	B	C	D
1	Size	Bottle oz	Oz/cone	Cones
2	Cherry	128	1.5	85
3	Blue	128	2	64
4	Large	128	3	42

The formula

Round down because a leftover splash is not a sellable serving:

=ROUNDDOWN(B2/C2,0) // bottle ounces / ounces per cone, rounded down to whole cones

How it works

A yield division, rounded the safe way:

B2/C2 divides the ounces in the bottle by the ounces of syrup you pour per cone.
ROUNDDOWN(...,0) rounds down to whole cones — a partial pour left in the jug is not a serving you can sell.
Rounding down (not up) keeps your yield honest so you never plan on a cone the gallon cannot make.
Pour size is the lever: a heavier hand on the syrup drops the servings fast.

Divide your cost per gallon by the servings to get a syrup cost per cone — the first line of your margin.

Try it: interactive demo

Interactive

Enter the bottle ounces and the syrup per cone.

Bottle oz

Oz per cone

Variations

Syrup cost per cone

Divide the gallon cost by the servings it yields.

=18/ROUNDDOWN(B2/C2,0)

Gallons for an event

Round up the gallons needed for an expected cone count.

=ROUNDUP(500/ROUNDDOWN(B2/C2,0),0)

Pitfalls & errors

Round down, not up. Rounding up counts a cone the gallon cannot actually pour, which overstates your yield and understates your cost per cone.

Measure your real pour, not the recipe's ideal. A busy stand pours heavier than a careful test, and an extra half-ounce a cone can cut a gallon's yield by a quarter.

Practice workbook

📊

Download the free Snow Cone: Servings Per Gallon Of Syrup practice workbook

Edit the yellow bottle-ounces and ounces-per-cone cells; the servings recalculate.

Frequently asked questions

Why 128 in the bottle-ounces cell?

There are 128 fluid ounces in a gallon. If your syrup comes in a different container, put its actual ounces in that cell and the yield adjusts — a 32-ounce bottle at 1.5 ounces a cone pours 21.

How do I turn yield into cost?

Divide what you paid for the gallon by the servings it yields, as the variation shows. That syrup-cost-per-cone is the starting point for pricing and margin on each cone you sell.

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Function references: ROUNDDOWN