Where did the ice cream truck come from? How the summer staple came to be.

Excited children run through parks and run down blocks to get cones, bars and ice cream on sweltering summer days as the sound of the iconic jingle grows louder and the ice cream truck approaches.

Although frozen treats have been around in one form or another for thousands of years, inventions over the years have brought ice cream to people. One innovation, the ice cream truck, has been attracting children and adults to the streets for a century. Trucks are now a staple part of summer in the US

“Ice cream trucks changed the way people viewed ice cream as they created a new level of accessibility that didn’t exist before,” said Manish Vora, co-founder and co-CEO of Ice Cream Museumwhich began as a pop-up experience in 2016 and is now present in several cities.

Advance ice cream sales

Frozen treats have been around for a long time; Ice cream’s predecessors were popular in China and Japan, although Persia is touted as a kind of “ice cream homeland,” said food historian Sarah Lohman. Persia was the first country to discover how to store ice and snow. They used giant freezers called yakhchāl.

Other developments in the history of ice cream occurred in the 16th century, when alchemists discovered that adding salt or saltpeter to ice would lower the freezing point, she said. At the end of the century, people – mainly employees of elite households – made ice cream.

“We don’t see it being sold regularly until the 18th century, when it would be made by confectioners and bought by wealthy families. And that price continued to fall throughout the 19th century due to various technological advances,” Lohman said. “That kind of shift from something served in wealthy, deprived families to a sweet treat that everyone can enjoy really happens in America.”

And it was a woman who took the next big leap for the industry. In the early 1840s, Pennsylvania inventor Nancy Johnson created the world’s first hand-cranked ice cream freezer.

“This tool, this feature was a huge game changer,” Lohman said. “And at about the same time, America was building an ice industry. A saw was created that could be transported by horses across frozen lakes rather than being sawed by hand.”

America is a very dairy-based country, so the dairy and eggs needed for ice cream were affordable throughout the 19th century, Lohman said.

Italian immigrants began selling ice cream on the streets in the mid-19th century. They put the flavors in cups called penny licks. As the name suggests, it cost a penny.

“Throughout most of the 19th century, it would be placed in these single-serving leaded glass containers,” Lohman said. “The consumer would have to eat it right there, using their tongue or fingers to scoop out the ice cream. And then they would return the penny to the seller.”

O street vendors were extremely popular, especially at the end of the 19th century. There was a gradual movement away from pennies as sellers realized they could sell more ice cream if customers could walk away with their treats. They started selling pieces of ice cream in paper, then started selling them in edible packaging, like cookies and wafers.

The first ice cream trucks

The invention of ice cream truck was widely attributed to Bom Humor. Ohio confectioner and ice cream shop owner Harry Burt created a chocolate-covered ice cream and, at his son’s suggestion, froze a stick in the ice cream to set it.

The auto industry has developed refrigerated vans to make it easier for suppliers to transport inventory to stores, a Good Humor spokesperson said. Burt had the idea of ​​painting one of his refrigerated vans white, naming it Good Humor Ice Cream Sucker, and outfitting it with five bells taken from his son’s sled. His son wore a white uniform and cap to sell Bom Humor bars from the truck.

After that, Burt equipped a fleet of 12 hawker trucks with buzzers and freezers so they could travel around selling frozen treats.

“Everyone loved their local ice cream trucks! It was a cheap way to get a treat during the day,” said a Good Humor spokesperson.

The first trucks sold only Good Humor bars, but around 1926, Burt added flavors including chocolate, Neapolitan malt and chocolate, according to the company. Sundae cups were added to ice cream trucks around 1928.

Salespeople wore white uniforms with black shoes, red bow ties and changing belts. They trained for three days to be a “Man of Good Humor”.

“For both children and adults, ice cream has always been a unifying force, inspiring connection and unity – in fact, ice cream trucks continued to be a hit even during the Great Depression, creating a momentary distraction for people in poverty ”, said Vora.

In the early history of the ice cream truck, customers were limited to purchasing pre-made ice cream, as the first trucks operated primarily as mobile freezers, Vora said. Over time, trucks evolved to allow for on-site ice cream manufacturing and flavor customization.

The Rise in Popularity of Ice Cream Trucks

Good Humor’s fleet expanded in the 1930s to include wheelbarrows, bicycles, tricycles and luggage racks, a Good Humor spokesman said. Two thousand Good Humor vehicles were used to sell ice cream in US neighborhoods in 1950; As popularity grew, Good Humor was able to further modify the trucks to begin selling soft serve ice cream.

Mister Softee, which is now the largest franchisor of ice cream trucks in the United States, began sales in 1956, according to the company’s website. O company has more than 625 trucks and more than 350 franchised dealerships operating in 18 states.

The 1950s and 60s saw the height of ice cream truck popularity, Vora said. It is estimated that at that time there were around 10,000 trucks operating in the USA.

Good Humor sold its ice cream trucks in 1978 and began focusing on selling in supermarkets, according to a company spokesperson. Some Bom Humor trucks were purchased by ice cream distributors and others were sold to individuals.

As a whole, today’s ice cream industry has an $11.4 billion impact on the U.S. economy, but the ice cream truck industry faces some challenges. According to a 2021 International Dairy Foods Association survey84% of consumers prefer to buy ice cream in the supermarket and consume it at home.

Still, Vora sees trucks as a staple of American life and said they are here to stay.

“What started as a simple idea in the 1920s has become a worldwide phenomenon, with no slowing down in sight – people want to enjoy ice cream whenever and wherever they can, and the creation of ice cream trucks has helped make this infinitely more possible . and affordable,” said Vora.