Website www.biggayicecream.com Founded 2009 | Products Ice cream Type Privately held company | |
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Key people Doug Quint, Bryan Petroff Profiles | ||
Big gay ice cream rethinking soft serve artisanal food masters epicuriousity
Big Gay Ice Cream (BGIC) is a New York City-based company that started with an ice cream truck and now operates 2 New York City store fronts. They specialize in serving soft serve ice cream cones, cups, and novelties with a menu of unique and unusual flavors and toppings. BGIC was co-founded by partners Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff. BGIC is part of a wider trend of gourmet, and upscale food trucks occurring in the United States.
Contents
- Big gay ice cream rethinking soft serve artisanal food masters epicuriousity
- Big gay ice cream great googamooga
- Name
- History
- References
BGIC has an official theme song composed, and recorded by The Go-Go's' guitarist and singer/songwriter Jane Wiedlin.
Big gay ice cream great googamooga
Name
The use of gay in the name of the company has two meanings; referring both to the sexual orientation of co-founders Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff being gay, as well as simply happy. According to Quint: "If I weren't gay, I wouldn't call it the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. And if I weren't happy, I wouldn't have the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. It would just be the big crabby ice cream truck."
They were not seeking to be hyper-political with the name, but allowed customers to read into it however they wanted.
History
Doug Quint is a free-lance classical bassoonist and was looking for a secondary occupation in the summer off-season. A flautist friend had been operating an ice cream truck of her own and suggested doing the same to Quint, who took her up on the suggestion. In June 2009, Doug Quint and his partner, Bryan Petroff, founded and began operating the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck at Brooklyn Pride in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. They currently operate the Big Gay Ice Cream truck during the summer months, parking at various locations throughout New York City, and tweeting their location and specialty items du jour to their followers.
After two years of operating a roving truck, they opened their first store, the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop, in the East Village of New York City. About a year later, they opened a second location in the West Village of New York City. They have opened in Philadelphia at the corner of South and S. Broad. Big Gay Ice Cream Shops are also planned for Los Angeles, CA and elsewhere in the near future.
Bryan and Doug have co-authored a book, Big Gay Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats: Going All the Way with Ice Cream and with an introduction by Anthony Bourdain, due to be released April 28, 2015.
Big Gay Ice Cream has gained attention and developed a strong following through their use of social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook to connect directly with their clientele rather than through traditional means of advertising. Quint and Petroff also frequently blog about their experience both on and off the truck.