Ice cream van

Vintage Ice Cream Truck in Harper Woods, Michigan

An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (American) is a commercial vehicle which serves as a travelling retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play — outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street.

Ice cream vans are often brightly decorated and carry images of ice cream, or some other adornment, such as cartoon characters. They may have painted-on notices, which can serve a commercial purpose ("Stop me and buy one!") or a more serious one ("Watch that child!" - serving as a warning to passing motorists that children may run out into the road at the sight of the van, or appear without warning from behind it). Along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch, and this is often covered with small pictures of the available products, with their associated prices. A distinctive feature of ice cream vans is their melodic chimes, and often these take the form of a famous and recognisable tune, often a nursery rhyme melody.

Ice Cream Truck in Sydney, Australia

Most ice cream vans tend to sell both pre-manufactured ice lollies (American English: popsicles) in wrappers, and soft serve ice cream from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake (in Britain) or a sugary syrup flavoured with, for example, strawberry. Soft serve ice cream is served topped with sprinkles for a slight extra charge. Other vans tend to be run by small businesses, selling their own variety of ice cream. David Cummins USA sells both soft serve and novelty/dipped ice cream trucks in the United States. They feature modern designs and do not require a generator. Then economics of not having a generator can save the operator $100 per day.

In some locations, ice cream van operators have diversified to fill gaps in the market for soft drinks, using their capacity for refrigerated storage to sell chilled cans and bottles.

Early vans used relatively primitive techniques: their refrigeration was ensured by large blocks of dry ice so the motor was always turned off when the van was stopped for sales. The chimes were operated by a hand driven crank or a take-off from the motor, so they were not heard as often.

Ice cream vans in the United Kingdom

A typical ice cream van; this one is in London.

There are mainly two types of ice cream vans in the United Kingdom: a "hard van" which sells scoop ice cream and is only equipped with a freezer and a "soft van" which has a freezer and also a soft serve whippy machine installed. They are usually converted from from factory standard vans with the rear cut away and replaced with a fibre glass body (to reduce the weight). Because of the British climate, running an ice cream van profitably is not only very difficult outside summer, but is also an unpredictable business. A summer heatwave can provoke a massive upturn in fortunes for a few days, but after the weather has returned to a milder character sales drop off dramatically. The need to take advantage of rare and short-lived opportunities can result in 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 lead to some ice cream van vendors diversifying into selling other products such as crisps and other snacks - including chips, burgers or hot dogs - from their vehicles at other times of year.

In a number of Local Authority areas, particularly in London Boroughs with existing street markets, street trading regulations prohibit ice cream vans from remaining in one static location - London local Authorities Act 1990 as amended. The legislation also contains powers to ban ice-ceam vans from specific streets. Proposals in the current London Local Authorities Bill will allow only 15 minutes trading per vehicle per street each day.

British-style ice cream vans are also found in Hong Kong - there is usually one parked outside the Star Ferry terminal on Hong Kong island.

In Glasgow, some organised crime syndicates used them for laundering the proceeds of crime and a front for drug dealing. A period of Glaswegian criminal history called the Ice Cream Wars existed in the 1980s between rival gangs fighting for territory.

Also in Scotland, ice cream vans have been used to sell smuggled cigarettes - Ice cream ploy by tobacco sellers

Ice cream trucks in the United States

Jack and Jill Ice Cream Truck in Kentlands, Maryland

Apart from ice cream, ice cream trucks may also sell snow cones, snacks, sodas, candy and even toys. Many trucks carry a sign, in the shape of a stop sign, that warns other drivers of children crossing the street to buy food or ice cream.

Novelty Ice Cream Trucks

Professionally built ice cream trucks that sell prepackaged product (Novelty Trucks) use commercial cold plate freezers that plug in overnight and when unplugged maintain the cold for at least 12 hours. Music systems are commonly digital devices that have no tape or other moving parts. Each "Music Box" has as few as 1 or as many tunes as one can have programmed onto the chip. The opening on the side that drivers serve from is commonly referred to as a serving window and will usually have a serving counter. Awnings can be attached to trucks over the serving window. Safety equipment usually comes in the form of an electric or vacuum swing out sign which may resemble a stop sign or a triangular shape, as well as vinyl lettering or decals that advise others to use caution.

The ice cream truck in popular culture

• In the Twisted Metal series of video games, the mascot, Sweet Tooth, drives an ice cream truck as his vehicle of choice.
• In Borat, the title character drives an ice cream truck across America.
• In the movie Friday, ice cream trucks are used as a cover-up for drug dealers.
• The cable series Reno 911! features an episode in the first season where the cops intercept an ice cream truck that is a front for illegal fireworks sales.
• An ice cream van was famously used as a prop by Dom Joly in the British comedy sketch show Trigger Happy TV. Joly would taunt customers by, variously, taking an order and then driving off, taking an order and then joining the back of the queue, or taking an order and then climbing on to the roof. One episode involved an American tourist requesting an orange disco lolly. This was the cue for Joly to close the window of the van, switch on some disco lights and gyrate wildly to a hard core techno track while white smoke swirled around the inside of the van.
• The Glasgow Ice Cream Wars were satirised in an episode of Rab C. Nesbitt (a Scots TV program), where Gash becomes a junkie and buys his drugs from an ice cream van.
• In Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore drove an ice cream truck around the house of Representatives, reading the USA PATRIOT Act.
• Bill Forsyth's 1984 movie Comfort and Joy features a rivalry between two rival ice-cream van companies.
• The music video for the Smashing Pumpkins song "Today" features an ice cream van.
• Eddie Murphy made famous "The Ice Cream Man" skit from his Grammy winning comedy album of 1983 Comedian.