Truck (or lack of truck) Summer 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at 02:15PM We currently do not plan on having Big Gay Ice Cream Truck on the streets of NYC during the summer of 2013. Why? There are a few reasons- read as many or as few as you like.
1. TRUCKS. You may know that we have always rented a soft-serve truck. Sadly the trucks available to us have proven themselves so unreliable that I have thrown up my hands in frustration. The frequent mechanical problems that seemed like "part of the adventure" back in 2009 now cause such frustration and delays that the trucks and I have reached an impasse. Example: for one of the few catering jobs we accepted this spring, the truck was 90 minutes late due to mechanical failures. The ice cream machine then broke on me three times in three different ways. "Buy your own truck," you say. Those wheels are in motion, but the fabrication of what will be a cutting edge power generator and the truck interior will take a good long time. "Rent a better truck," you say. Tell us where to do that, Carnac. Ha!
2. LAWS. The vendor laws in NYC are so convoluted that we don't really want to bring more employees on to work the truck. Each truck worker has to independently register to charge and report sales tax. It makes no sense, and there is no work-around.
3. ROAD SHOW. The truck began as an adventure, and it's still most enjoyable when it happens that way. We have now done the truck in South Beach, San Francisco, and twice in Los Angeles, and LOVE taking it on the road. We have several out-of-town truck jaunts planned (though not yet announced), each utilizing a local truck. All of those non-NYC trucks are far superior to any truck we've ever used here, and this- combined with new streets in new towns- make Big Gay Ice Cream Truck back into the hilariously awesome adventure that we love. Genevieve, our sole "truck worker who isn't Doug" also loves going on the road and we dig traveling with her. We are an unholy trio.
4. WE HAVE SHOPS NOW. We are proud of our two NYC shops and we want people to visit them. Unlike the truck, our shops never break down, rarely get towed, and are easy to clean.
5. US- i.e. BRYAN AND I. The truck was all-consuming for the first four years of it's life. We never want to be devoid of the truck completely, but let's face it: I worked on that thing 10-16 hours a day each summer for years while Bryan was off ordering, writing, cooking, and making hours of phone calls. We deserve to not do it this summer if we don't want to.
