NYC Icons: Mister Softee
An edible history of a summertime classic.
This post is part of the New York City Icons series, where I dive into the history of various iconic New York City foods and drinks, in addition to regular Edible History content.
There are many sounds associated with summer time in New York City. The music that wafts out from speakers past dusk at barbeques and gatherings in the city’s parks. Delighted shrieks from children as they run through sprinklers and open fire hydrants, water gushing out. The explosion of fireworks; long before and after July 4th. But perhaps the most iconic sound associated with the warmer months in Gotham – is the jingle of the ice cream truck.
You hear it in parks. Near playing fields. Outside public swimming pools. You hear it from inside your apartment, as the white truck with blue trim, patrols the neighborhood, blaring out its jingle to alert all within listening range that sweet treats are here.
There are many different types of ice cream trucks, of course. But in New York City, Mister Softee is by far the most iconic. The soft serve menu is simple, standardized, and painted across the truck’s side, next to the sliding glass window from which the driver pokes their head out and takes orders.
There are two flavors: chocolate and vanilla, both dispensed from a soft serve machine. You can have your ice cream in a paper cup, but the waffle cone, thin and synthetic, is the norm. You can add rainbow sprinkles, or chocolate sprinkles. Some trucks even carry more specialized toppings according to the neighborhood’s preferences: like Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup chunks, or crumbles of Oreo cookies. You can order chocolate and vanilla together in a cone for a “twist.” There are milkshakes, which come in the Mister Softee paper cup: the bottom half blue, the top half white, the red cursive logo and smiling vanilla cone emblazoned across it. A “Banana Boat” (basically a banana split) is also on the menu – though I have never seen someone order one.
Mister Softee is a family business and one of the largest franchisers of soft serve ice cream in the United States. Back in the 1950s, two brothers James and William Conway were working for Sweeden Freezer, a company that manufactures ice cream machines. They noticed that customers were increasingly buying the machines to install them in trucks – but the machines kept breaking down. Turns out shock absorbers and a cooling system were needed to keep them functioning on all those long hot summer days. The Conway brothers proposed a new type of mobile ice cream machine to the higher ups at Sweeden Freezer – but they weren’t interested. So the Philadelphia-based brothers decided to strike out on their own. In 1956 they launched Mister Softee.
What seems on paper like a pretty wholesome business model, is not all sprinkles and sugar. For the last decade, some of the franchisees of Mister Softee trucks in New York City have been locked in a rather contentious turf war.
In 2013, a disgruntled franchisee, Dimitrious Tsirokos decided he’d had enough of the rules and fees for the approved ingredients required to use the Mister Softee name. He and a group of other ice cream truck owners launched their own brand in retaliation – Master Softee – and as you can imagine, corporate headquarters were not too pleased. Jeff Zucker, the official Mister Softee lawyer, took the Master Softee drivers to court and won, forcing the new company to change their name to New York Ice Cream Co. (Mister Softee also has an official private investigator, Darrin Giglio, an ice cream mole, an agent on the ground, constantly on the look out for imitators).
But the Master Softee damage was already done. Today, the renegade soft serve fleet reigns over Midtown Manhattan – their trucks operating from 34th Street to 60th Street, river to river. As one driver told a reporter from The New York Times, “You will never see a Mister Softee truck in Midtown. If you do, there will be problems.”
Over in Brookly, Hilary Guishard, an immigrant from Saint Kitts and Nevis, currently owns the only Mister Softee franchise in the borough. Every morning in the warmer months, Guishard’s fleet of trucks emerge from their East New York parking lot to serve Brooklyn and Queens. Each driver has their own designated route, their own neighborhoods, their own turf. Guishard’s daughter, Shevonne Guishard-Lambert, who was gifted her very own Mister Softee truck by her father as a wedding present, told Eater in 2015 that even on days when business is slow, you stick to your territory.
A nearby street might be teeming with children but if it's not one of your streets, you don’t veer off course and try to sell some sneaky cones under the radar. That block belongs to another Mister Softee driver, “I know that lady that has that block.” Apparently, she has her own children to feed, so Guishard-Lambert adds, “she wouldn't take my business and I wouldn't take hers."
On a recent summer evening, I was making dinner when I heard the jingle in the distance. The song was getting louder and closer. I grabbed my wallet and rushed downstairs to try and catch the truck (all this thinking about Mister Softee and I’ve been craving a nostalgic cone). Alas, by the time I got down to the street, it was too late. The truck had moved on. As I trudged back upstairs, no ice cream in hand, I could still hear the song playing from the truck's loudspeaker, now getting quieter, as it drove off into the summer night to sell some ice cream.
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I do love Mr. Softee although I have to stick to non-dairy ice cream since I'm lactose intolerant.
Big ups St. Kitts and Nevis!! 🇰🇳🇰🇳🇰🇳 I had no idea there were softee turf wars in NYC. Like this feels very on brand for the city lol