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Anice cream van (Commonwealth English) orice cream truck (North American English) is acommercial vehicle thatice cream products are sold from, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often used forstreet vending and drive through residential areas and can be parked at beaches, parks, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often have decorations, a serving window on the kerbside, and a display of available products and their prices. Most ice cream vans are independently owned and operated. However, there are ice cream van franchises such asMister Softee.
A distinctive feature of ice cream vans (in comparison to other kinds offood trucks) is their sound devices, used to attract attention. Some use a bell or a set of bells that is rung[1] while many use ahorn loudspeaker which amplified music is played from. Some ice cream vans use both of these sound devices.[2] The amplified music played by ice cream vans is typically a shortinstrumental version of apublic domainchildren's,classical,folk, ortraditional pop song that is played repeatedly and sounds like amusic box orsynthesized chimes. Early ice cream vans utilize electro-mechanicalmusic boxes, with electronic systems becoming more common in the late 20th century.[3]
Early ice cream vans carried simple ice cream, during a time when most families did not own a freezer. As freezers became more commonplace, ice cream vans moved towards selling novelty ice cream items, such as bars and ice pops.[4]
In the United States, ice cream trucks became more common after World War II.Ice cream parlors used ice cream trucks to reach customers after the development ofurban sprawl. Music boxes were installed in ice cream trucks to evoke the experience of attending an ice cream parlor, which traditionally playedminstrel tunes.[5]
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There are mainly two types of ice cream vans in the United Kingdom:
They are usually converted from factory standard vans with the rear cut away and replaced with a fibre glass body (to reduce the weight).
The traditional song played by ice cream vans in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand is "Greensleeves".[6][7]
Because of theBritish climate, not only is running an ice cream van profitably very difficult outside summer, but it is also an unpredictable business. A summerheatwave can provoke a massive upturn in fortunes for a few days, but after the weather has cooled sales drop off dramatically. The need to take advantage of rare and short-lived opportunities can result in the fierce rivalry between ice cream vans in coterminous areas, with the main disputes being over who is entitled to sell ice cream in a particular 'patch'. This has also led to some ice cream van vendorsdiversifying and selling other products such ascrisps,chips, burgers, orhot dogs from their vehicles at other times of the year.
In several local authority areas, particularly in London Boroughs with existing street markets, street trading regulations prohibit ice cream vans from remaining in one static location. The legislation also contains powers to ban ice cream vans from specific streets. Proposals in the current[when?] London Local Authorities Bill would allow only 15 minutes of trading per vehicle per street each day.[8] There is also a nationwide code of practice[9] for the use of chimes, which limits the volume to 80 dB and the duration to twelve seconds,but these rules are rarely observed and rarely enforced.[citation needed] Chimes must not be played more often than every three minutes near hospitals, schools, and churches when they are in use.
In Scotland, ice cream vans have been used to sell smuggled cigarettes[10] and, in the 1980sGlasgow ice cream wars, asfront organizations to sell illicit drugs.[11]
Whitby Morrison, based inCrewe,Cheshire, was founded by Bryan Whitby, who filed a UK patent in 1965 for mobile ice cream-producing equipment through whichsoft serve units were powered off the van's drive mechanism. Today, the company is the UK's biggest ice cream van manufacturer, producing around 100 vans a year; its products have been exported to over 60 countries.[12] The company has also been developing a fully electric on-board battery system to power the soft-scoop machines it fits; the first all-electric van was expected to be delivered in the summer of 2019.[needs update][13]
In the United States and Canada, ice cream trucks are commonly converted fromstep vans, which also give rise to the iconic and traditional design of North American ice cream trucks. There are also other conversions withcargo vans,conversion vans,passenger vans andsmall school buses. Ice cream trucks that only sell pre-packaged novelty products such asice cream bars,ice cream sandwiches, andpopsicles are more common than those that sell soft serve ice cream.
Apart from ice cream, ice cream trucks may also sellsnow cones,Italian ice or water ice, snacks, toys, and candy. Many trucks have a yellow or red triangular sign with lights, similar to aschool busstop sign that is extended to warn other drivers to slow down because children could be crossing the street to buy ice cream.
Traditional songs played by ice cream trucks in the US and Canada are "The Band Played On", "Camptown Races", "The Entertainer", "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man", "It's a Small World", "La Cucaracha", "Little Brown Jug",the Mister Softee Jingle ("Jingles and Chimes"), "Music Box Dancer", "Picnic" (a Japanese children’s song), "Pop Goes the Weasel", "Red Wing", "Sailing, Sailing", "Turkey in the Straw", "Wiegenlied", and "Yankee Doodle".[14][15] Ice cream trucks in the US have been playing music since at least 1927, whenGood Humor trucks inLos Angeles played "Stodola Pumpa."[3]
Norway has two leading ice-cream van companies; Isbilen (lit. ice-car) by Fråst, and Diplom-isbilen byDiplom-Is. Diplom-Isbilen sells ice cream made by Diplom-Is, and isbilen sells ice cream made by Isbjørn-Is; they also sellfish. The ice cream vans can be heard from afar and attract customers to the street by playing the iconic tune "Norge rundt", symbolizing their presence all over the country.
Hemglass is theSwedish brand of the ice cream manufacturerHjem-IS Europa A/S and was launched inSweden in 1968. The company distributes its products in ice cream trucks in SwedenHemglass and Denmark (Hjem-IS).
The events [began] as rival gangs fought for the control of lucrative ice-cream van runs used as a front for distributing stolen goods and heroin ...
