The great American ice cream truck is roaring back with on-demand desserts delivered to a street near you
Once a nostalgic staple of American summers, the ice cream truck had all but disappeared — a casualty of changing tastes, tighter regulations, and the rise of delivery apps.
Now, one New Jersey startup is reviving the tradition with a digital-age twist — letting customers summon sweet treats on demand via text.
Scream Truck operates 17 vans across select neighborhoods in the state, alerting fans when they're nearby and letting them reserve a stop with a simple 'Y.'
It's a far cry from the old-school trucks that were a beloved fixture of American neighborhoods from the 1950s through the early 1990s.
The company has big plans to expand nationally, aiming to roll out 1,000 trucks within five years.
Each truck ditches the old-school jingle for 'actual music,' blasts bright LED graphics, and serves up seasonal sundaes, shakes, and cones — many dreamed up by founder and CEO Eric Murphy himself, who calls it a 'really fun part of the job.'
'Our business model is built around impulse buying, where we text our customers when Scream Truck will be visiting their neighborhood,' Murphy told DailyMail.com.
'Customers can simply reply Y (for yes!) to reserve a stop at their house. Who can say no to a text message for ice cream?.'
Murphy launched the company in 2020, after selling his previous ventures to Condé Nast in 2017. With little ice cream experience but a deep background in experiential marketing, he set out to create something new.
'With a 30 year career in experiential marketing and entertainment, I had always dreamed of creating a whole new experiential food delivery concept,' he said.
'Food delivery has become a behemoth (especially after Covid), but it's a pretty terrible experience.'
That is when he decided to create a food truck with a twist, providing customers with goodies via text message request.
All of the technology that powers the Scream Truck experience runs on IMPLSE, a proprietary logistics platform developed by the company.
'Scream Truck, and our customer experience and logistics software, are building the foundation for a much larger initiative to deliver 'surprise and delight' food and beverage experiences to people's homes,' he stated.
However, the company is also concocting items through partnerships with collaborators to create one-of-a-kind treats, and has also rolled out its first pizza truck concept.
'We are targeting premium, 'not available everywhere' kind of brands like Pat LaFrieda, Levain Cookies, and treats made by celebrated chefs from around the country,' Murphy revealed.
Over the last five years, more than 100,000 individuals have signed up for alerts.
It also ended 2024 with nearly $4 million in revenue, a 25 percent increase from its 2023 sales.
With its popularity soaring, Scream Truck is now slowing down to work more on improving its technology and preparing for a nationwide expansion.
'We just signed our Las Vegas deal, so they will launch their first truck later this summer, and plan to launch 10-15 trucks over the next 18 months. It is the perfect market for Scream Truck,' Murphy said.
The business will also be making its way into the tri-state area of Long Island, Florida.
Other areas Scream Truck hopes to do business in are 'key hospitality and entertainment cities' like Los Angeles, Austin, Nashville, Miami, and Denver.'
Although the business is booming, the CEO revealed that there will not be any new owned and operating trucks hitting their current routes.
Scream Truck still expects modest revenue growth this year and massive sales growth starting in 2026.
Besides expansions, Scream Truck provided a sneak peek into the promotions it plans to offer this year.
Murphy revealed the business is working on a partnership with a 'very big slasher franchise' for Halloween and will bring back its fan-favorite 'Santa Social's' special this winter.
Some items included in its Santa-themed special are holiday music, a holiday menu, and hot chocolate.
Other specials and discounts will be revealed at later dates on Scream Truck's Instagram and Facebook pages.
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