Mister Softee, a summertime staple in New York City and across the United States, has been struggling amidst increased competition and rising costs, alongside other factors.
As Mike Conway, vice president of Mister Softee and the co-founder’s grandson, told CNN in a phone interview, “There’s a lot more competition, especially in New York, than there was in the 1980s and 1990s. Ice cream has become more popular—more stores are doing it. Everybody is getting into the business a little bit.”
A Brief History of Mister Softee
From their headquarters in Runnemede, New Jersey, Mister Softee used to oversee over 2,000 ice cream trucks across 38 states during the company’s peak in the 1960s. Now, that number has reduced to only 630 trucks in the neighborhoods and parks of 21 states.
Ever since the company deployed its first Mister Softee trucks in 1954, their famous soft-serve ice cream garnered nationwide success. The two brothers, James and William Conway, saw the gap in the market and seized their opportunity.
In a 1991 interview, William Conway explained how the business got started. “We found there was a demand for soft ice cream. A local dairy developed the recipe, a friend drew up our ‘conehead’ trademark, and I came up with the name, six letters in each word.” Not only was soft ice cream easier to serve, but it was easier to keep in large quantities and addressed the market’s desire.
A few years later, an advertising agency created the iconic jingle to use in Mister Softee radio commercials and served to establish the brand as an ice cream truck franchise. Now, many Mister Softee franchisees are uncertain whether they can afford to stay in business at all.
The Issues at Hand
Mister Softee trucks are largely operated by first-generation immigrants and small business owners, giving them very little capital to keep their independent franchise going without a reliable income. On top of that, Mister Softee franchisees are given a specific area in which they can sell, limiting access to ideal selling spots and creating “turf wars.”
Competition
Outside competition is another problem. Mister Softee can’t regulate where competitors drive their carts and trucks, much less where established shops emerge. The company has successfully sued a few competitors for allegedly mimicking the Mister Softee jingle and branding, but this does little to address rising costs for supplies and gas following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Physical shops aren’t mobile like trucks and carts, but they can offer a more specialized selection which the mobile methods can’t compete with. Specialty ice cream, gelato, milkshakes, and other frozen desserts have become increasingly popular, and eat up more of the ice cream market share in any given area.
Societal Changes
Societal factors have also had an observable impact on Mister Softee’s sales. Families are having fewer children, and with more parents spending time working and technology becoming more readily accessible, those children aren’t playing outside as frequently, if at all. Without a parent around, it isn’t likely that a kid will be able to pay for ice cream in the first place.
Too Hot for Ice Cream
Shifts in the climate have also affected sales, with extreme heat causing trucks to break down more frequently and families to stay inside. One thinks of ice cream as a perfect solution to beat the heat, but apparently, it’s just too hot to even bother leaving the house. Unilever, a maker of several ice cream brands, had chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly observe, “When it gets too hot, people move away from ice cream and buy a cold drink instead.”
Changes Being Made
Mister Softee has responded by starting the ice cream season sooner, beginning in spring and ending in November. Operations have extended into private catering services and there is now a mobile app for locating the nearest ice cream truck. At the very least, the brand seems determined to stick around.
