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AyRojgar

Juice and sharbat shop

Lemon, sugarcane and bael sharbat through the hot months at Tk 10-25 a glass, lassi at Tk 50. The trade stands on three things: ice, electricity and one hot season.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
Juice and sharbat shop

Juice and sharbat shop

Starting capital
৳15,000 – ৳3,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
1 – 4 people
First sale
5 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
2 – 17 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Easy

About the business

When the heat comes the sharbat stalls go up on the roadside. Around New Market in Dhaka on 10 April 2025 lemon sharbat was Tk 10 a glass, sugarcane juice Tk 20, bael sharbat Tk 20 and a mixed-fruit sharbat with basil seed Tk 25. The prices are small and so is the margin per glass, so the money comes from the count. But the three costs that decide this business are not on the menu board. The first is ice. In the same report a New Market sharbat seller named Motin said plainly: 'This ice is usually brought in for fish, we take it from there. One sack does a whole day's trade.' Fish ice is not food grade, and a Food Safety Authority inspection can mean a fine and a closed shop; food-grade ice costs more. The second is electricity - the blender, the chiller and the freezer run all day, and when the power goes the ice melts and the cut fruit spoils. The third is the season. What sells between March and July has to carry the rest of the year; nobody buys a cold sharbat in winter. The 2026 regulations bring juice shops under registration - the Authority's draft named 'fruit juice, beverages' outright in schedule 1 - so Food Safety Authority registration is compulsory. Selling loose by the glass needs no BSTI certification; the moment it goes into a bottle, fruit juice falls under mandatory certification and the sample test alone is Tk 11,300.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳20,000 – ৳90,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳10 – ৳50 / unitMarket quote
Variable cost৳5 – ৳30 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin40% – 65%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue5 – 45 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time2 – 17 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 1 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss10% – 25%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity100 – 250Practitioner verified

What you need to start

  • A commercial electricity connection. On DPDC's rates effective from the June 2026 bill month, LT-E commercial and office is Tk 15.36 per kWh flat, Tk 13.82 off-peak and Tk 18.43 at peak, plus a demand charge of Tk 90 per kW per month. The residential 76-200 unit step is Tk 8.50 by comparison, so the same electricity costs roughly twice as much on the commercial rate - and the freezer and blender run most of the day.Equipment
  • Hand lemon press Tk 451-900, electric juicer Tk 3,599-8,390, 2200W two-litre commercial double-jar blender Tk 9,900-10,200, chest freezer 150L Tk 27,900 / 200L Tk 43,900-51,400 / 250L Tk 37,890, portable ice maker Tk 17,000 (Daraz Bangladesh, 21-09-2026). Plus strainers, glasses or disposable cups and a cold jar.Equipment
  • Sugar (Tk 108-112 a kg retail in Dhaka, Tk 102.40-103.00 wholesale, Department of Agricultural Marketing 17-09-2026), lemons, sugarcane, bael, basil seed, fruit, salt and black salt. Lemon, cane and bael are not on the Dhaka daily price sheet and could not be verified here.Starting stock
  • In a pourashava, registration of the food premises - clause 18 of the Model Tax Schedule, under section 21 of the Pure Food Ordinance 1959 - is an annual fee on top of the trade licence: Tk 300 for a fast food, snacks bar, coffee house, ice cream, juice or cold drinks shop, and Tk 500 for a fruit juice or mineral water factory. The 2016 city corporation schedule has no equivalent.Licence
  • Fire safety certificate under section 4(1) of the Fire Prevention and Extinguishing Act 2003; there is no size exemption. Keeping sugar and paper puts it in group 1: Tk 900 up to 150 sq ft, Tk 1,000 for 151-300, Tk 2,000 for 301-500. An LPG cylinder or cooking oil puts it in group 3 or 4: Tk 2,000 up to 150 sq ft, Tk 2,400 for 151-500, Tk 4,000 for 501-1,000. Application form Tk 100 by treasury challan. It expires on 30 June of the financial year; a 5 percent monthly late fee runs for six months, then it is cancelled. Operating without one carries a minimum of three years in prison plus a fine under section 17.Licence
  • Trade licence. The pourashava schedule has a line of its own for a juice bar - serial 11(5), 'coffee house / snacks bar / fast food / juice bar': air-conditioned Tk 2,000 (class A pourashava) or Tk 1,700 (class B and C), ordinary Tk 500 or Tk 400; application fee Tk 50; signboard tax Tk 100 per square foot. The 2016 city corporation schedule has no juice line - manufacturing falls under serial 19, 'beverage', at Tk 4,000 (Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Chattogram) or Tk 2,000, otherwise serial 295 residual at Tk 1,000 or Tk 500. It runs on the fiscal year, and missing the 30 September renewal costs Tk 100 a month or 10 percent of the fee a month, whichever is higher, in a city corporation.Licence
  • Food business registration with the Food Safety Authority; schedule 1, item 1 of the Authority's draft names 'fruit juice, beverages' outright, and The Daily Star's report on the final gazette lists juice shops under registration. Valid three years, renewal application at least 90 days before expiry. Two sources give two fees: the Authority's draft schedule 10 makes new registration free with Tk 100 renewal, while press reporting says Tk 1,000 and Tk 500.Licence
  • BSTI CM licence: not needed for loose glasses, needed the moment it goes into a bottle or packet. On the mandatory list: Fruits and Vegetables Juices (item 16, BDS 513:2013), Fruit Squashes (13, BDS 506:2002), Concentrated Fruit Juice (20, BDS 527:2015), Fruit Drinks (58, BDS 1581:2015) and Packaged Drinking Water (47, BDS 1240:2021). Sample test fees: juice Tk 11,300, squash Tk 6,800, fruit drinks Tk 17,000, packaged water Tk 35,850 - all plus 15 percent VAT. New CM application Tk 1,000, annual CM fee 0.07 percent of production value for fruit products with a Tk 3,000 floor. Time 19-94 working days.Licence
  • Environmental clearance: not needed for a small shop selling by the glass, needed once bottling begins. Under the note to schedule 1 of the Environment Conservation Rules 2023, a cottage industry run by family members with investment up to Tk 5 lakh - service activities included - is outside the requirement. But 'juice and soft drink manufacture' is serial 96 of the Orange class in schedule 1, which needs a location clearance and an Initial Environmental Examination first, takes up to 21 working days to approve, costs a Tk 5,000 processing fee plus a clearance fee running from Tk 3,000 (investment Tk 1-5 lakh) to Tk 20,000 (Tk 50 lakh to 1 crore), and is valid only one year, renewed at half the fee. Packaged drinking water, by contrast, is Green serial 6: 7 working days, valid five years.Licence
  • Keeping the sugar, lemon and salt in the same proportion so the taste does not change, working fast in the rush, and the habit of keeping glasses and machines clean. The recipe is easy; cleanliness is what keeps the shop alive.Skill
  • A reliable ice factory supplying food-grade ice, with a daily delivery. Ice brought in for fish is widely used in this trade (a New Market seller's own words, 10-04-2025) but is not fit for food. The price of ice is itself volatile: at Pathorghata in Barguna on 22-08-2026 a can or bar that used to sell at Tk 120 had gone to Tk 200-250, and the ice mill owners' association blamed frequent load-shedding and the rise in the per-unit electricity price. An ice factory carries its own trade licence too - serial 20, 'ice mill / ice cream factory', at Tk 2,000 in a city corporation.Supplier
  • A small shop on a roadside or at a bazar mouth, a commercial power connection, running water and drainage for washing glasses, and room for the freezer. Rent varies by area and could not be verified here.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Choose the spot by the sun. The mouth of a bazar, a bus stand, a hospital or college gate - wherever people walk in the afternoon. The crowd standing in unshaded heat is this shop's customer.
  2. 2Take the trade licence: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000, issued in 3-5 working days.
  3. 3Register the food business with the Food Safety Authority. Schedule 1, item 1 of the Authority's draft names 'fruit juice, beverages' outright, and reporting on the final gazette names juice shops too. The registration runs three years.
  4. 4Settle the ice before the machines. Find an ice factory that supplies food-grade ice and fix a daily delivery. Fish ice is cheap, but being caught with it risks a fine and a closed shop.
  5. 5Take the power connection at the commercial rate and work out the load: knowing how many units the blender, juicer, freezer and lights draw together means the monthly bill is no surprise. The commercial per-unit tariff could not be verified here and has to be asked at the distribution company's office.
  6. 6Decide in advance what happens when the power goes. With the freezer off the ice melts and the cut fruit spoils. IPS, battery or generator, whichever it is, put the cost into the monthly accounts.
  7. 7Buy the equipment in the order of the work: hand lemon press Tk 451-900, electric juicer Tk 3,599-8,390, 2200W two-litre commercial blender Tk 9,900-10,200, 150-litre chest freezer from Tk 27,900 (Daraz, 21-09-2026). A sugarcane crusher is a separate machine and its price could not be verified here.
  8. 8Set up proper glass washing - running water and soap, not two basins. The same unwashed glass carries infection from one customer to the next, and that is the commonest charge made against this trade.
  9. 9Keep the menu short and set how much fruit to cut by what is selling. Cut fruit changes within hours, so on a cloudy day cutting less is what pays.
  10. 10Plan separately for Ramadan: the two hours before iftar are the heaviest demand of the year, and ice and lemon are dearest at exactly that time.
  11. 11Think hard before bottling. Loose glasses need no BSTI, but bottled fruit juice is on the mandatory list (BDS 513:2013): the sample test alone is Tk 11,300, or Tk 17,000 as a fruit drink, plus 15 percent VAT, and the licence takes 19-94 working days.
  12. 12Plan the four cold months in advance - tea and coffee, lassi, or something else. A cold sharbat counter sits empty in winter while the rent keeps running.

Seasons

  1. JanLow
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarHigh
  4. AprHigh
  5. MayHigh
  6. JunHigh
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctLow
  11. NovLow
  12. DecLow
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitDhaka · The centre of the capital's sharbat trade; there is direct reporting on the prices and the ice supply of the New Market stalls (10-04-2025). Dense population, a long hot season and the largest number of people on foot all come together here.
  • PossibleChapai Nawabganj · The mango district: raw material is cheapest from May to July, which is also the peak of the heat. When the fruit season ends, so does the advantage.
  • PossibleChattogram · The port city has the same street crowds and the same long heat, though prices or sales figures for sharbat stalls in this district were not separately verified here.
  • PossibleCumilla · Crowds around bus stands and roadside hotels on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, where long-distance passengers get down looking for something cold in the heat. Figures were not verified here.
  • PossibleKhulna · Bazar and ghat crowds in the city and a long hot season; separate figures for sharbat stalls were not verified here.
  • PossibleNilphamari · Local reporting notes sharbat demand rising in the heat in this northern district too; separate price or sales figures were not verified here.
  • PossibleRajshahi · One of the hottest parts of the country in summer, with cheap fruit in the mango season. Sales figures were not verified here.
  • PossibleSylhet · The town has the crowds and the spending power of migrant families, but heavier rain means fewer clear hot days. Figures were not verified here.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: The ice is the biggest risk. The New Market sharbat seller Motin said himself on 10-04-2025: 'This ice is usually brought in for fish, we take it from there.' Fish ice is not food grade. Dr Mohammad Rafikul Islam of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College says this water and ice spread typhoid, jaundice and hepatitis, and that unwashed glasses carry infection from one customer to the next. A mobile court means a fine and a closed shop, and one person falling ill ruins the name locally - in the hot season that costs the whole year.
  • HighDemand: One hot season a year. What sells between March and July has to carry the rest, because nobody buys a cold sharbat in winter. A run of cloudy or rainy days inside that window means the fruit is already bought and the customers are not there. Rent and the power bill run all twelve months.
  • HighDependency: When the power goes the business stops, and you pay for it twice. First on your own bill: on DPDC's rates effective from June 2026, commercial power is Tk 15.36 a unit flat and Tk 18.43 at peak, plus Tk 90 per kW a month in demand charge on the approved load, not the measured one - roughly double the residential rate. Second in the price of ice: at Pathorghata in Barguna on 22-08-2026 a can of ice had gone from Tk 120 to Tk 200-250, and the ice mill owners blamed load-shedding and the power price directly. So load-shedding does not merely stop your blender, it doubles the price of your main raw material - in exactly the heat that brings the customers. And the scale changed: at the same season and the same demand, load shedding ran 96-175 MW in April 2025 and 940-2,086 MW in April 2026. On 19-09-2026 the evening shortfall was 1,686 MW; on the worst day, 11 August 2026, it was 3,142 MW. A generator is no answer at these prices: diesel went to Tk 135 a litre on 21 September 2026, and at about 0.4 litre per unit that is roughly Tk 54 a unit against Tk 15.36 from the grid. A Tk 4-9 margin per glass does not carry it, which is why small businesses simply go dark.
  • HighWorking capital: Lemon prices go out of hand exactly in season. The national retail average for kagzi lemon is Tk 19 a hali (August 2026) and TCB puts Dhaka at Tk 20-30 a hali (20-09-2026) - but at the start of Ramadan, at the Subhanighat wholesale market in Sylhet, small kagzi lemons went from Tk 20 a hali to Tk 70-80, medium to Tk 120-150 and large to Tk 175-200. And the two hours before iftar are the biggest selling of the year. The glass stays at Tk 10 or Tk 15, so when lemons quadruple there is no profit left on those days.
  • MediumSpoilage: Cut fruit turns within hours and made-up sharbat will not do the next day. Cut too much expecting a crowd and it goes in the bin at dusk; cut too little and you run out in the rush. The decision comes every single day and getting it wrong costs that day's profit.
  • MediumWorking capital: The margin is locked into round numbers. A glass is Tk 10 or Tk 20; nobody wants the change for Tk 12 or Tk 22. So when sugar or lemons go up the only moves are a smaller glass or a thinner sharbat, and the customer notices both. Sugar was Tk 108-112 a kg retail in Dhaka on 17-09-2026 against Tk 102-105 on the same date a year before.
  • MediumCompliance: Running without registration breaches section 38 of the Safe Food Act 2013: a first offence brings six months to a year in prison or a fine of Tk 1,00,000 to Tk 2,00,000 or both. And starting to sell in bottles without a CM licence brings it under section 21 of the BSTI Act 2018, where section 29 carries up to four years or a fine of Tk 50,000 to Tk 2,00,000.

Sources

What changed

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Stories about this business

Mixed experienceA sugarcane-juice seller in Rangpur, in a Prothom Alo report

From 2 taka a glass to 10, and still only 600-700 taka a day

A glass of sugarcane juice has gone from 2 taka to 10 over ten years, but the cane has risen with it. The stall turns over 3,000-4,000 taka a day and keeps 600-700 of it.

Reasons
Other, Working capital
What workedA sugarcane-juice seller in Rangamati, in a Prothom Alo report

Paddy out, sugarcane in: four lakh taka a year from a roadside juice shop

The same 2.5 acres returned about 30,000 taka a year under paddy against 18,000 taka of production cost. Crushed and sold as juice at the roadside, the cane from that land now takes about 2,000 taka a day and leaves about 400,000 taka of profit over a nine-month season.

Reasons
Good location, Strong network

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