Article

Florida ice cream vehicles find a niche in catering

South Florida entrepreneur Steve Popkin built a hobby collecting vintage ice cream trucks into a business focused on catering events.

Noah Popkin gets ready to serve customers at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

December 2, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

By serving ice cream from vintage ice cream trucks, customized carts and motorcycles, Karmic Ice Cream is a natural draw for catering events in South Florida. Owner Steve Popkin, assisted by his wife, Debbie, and their 24-year-old son, Noah, have found their fleet of refurbished ice cream vehicles — described in part one of this two-part series — largely sell themselves.

It isn't unusual for people whip out their phones and take pictures of the vehicles as they notice them in traffic, Popkin said. Local media have also taken notice, resulting in stories by reporters who come upon the vehicles at random. 

Noah Popkin prepares to sell ice cream from a motorcycle with a custom built freezer.

Focus on catering

Since launching the business two years ago in Coral Springs, Florida, Popkin has focused on catered events rather than what he calls "sell through" events, such as festivals. Sales for catered events are more predictable than "sell through" events, he said, and they are easier to plan for. 

For a party of 100 people, Popkin usually stocks 120 to 130 packages of ice cream, consisting of six or seven flavors, which he gets from local ice cream distributors.

"We always have a small inventory (on hand) if something happens to pop up out of the blue," Popkin said. "We typically don't keep a huge inventory in the warehouse." 

Karmic Ice Cream typically caters two events per week, charging a $500 minimum. At one such event, 900 people were served in two hours.

They also try to cater the ice cream to the type of event. Events that cater to children will have Bomb Tops, cotton candy flavors and cups with gumballs at the bottom. An adult audience will prefer Good Humor brand ice cream and its nostalgic flavors, Popkin said. 

"We're not going after the kids' birthday market," he said.

While the Popkins haven't had to invest a lot in marketing, they do use Google Pay-Per Click — which allows them to target certain demographics, such as zip codes and income levels, in a defined geographic area — in addition to email marketing and Instagram ads. They have also tried some lead generation services, but have not had good results. 

A foray into 'sell through' events

The Popkins made a foray into the "sell through" market when they acquired an Avis Rental bus which they converted into a double decker ice cream truck. They named the bus Cosmos Ice Cream Truck and equipped it with nitrogen tanks, mixers, a freezer and a refrigerator to make nitrogen ice cream. They added a staircase and a second floor with room for about 25 people.

"We got a quick lesson in the making of ice cream," Popkin said.

He geared the Cosmos Ice Cream Truck to the "sell through" market since it wasn't suitable for a lot of catering events due to its size. The bus required a driver with a commercial driving license and someone to manage it on a daily basis as well as other employees to serve the ice cream. While the bus was active three to four times a week, sales could not be assured on account of weather, Popkin said. 

He needed to sell 120 cups of ice cream charging $3 to $5 per cup to break even at an event.

"If you had a rain out, you were out all that money," he said. "You learn more from doing things wrong than doing things right." 

After one year, Popkin sold the bus on Craigslist to the Davis family in Rockledge, Florida, which is now operating it.

While catering is now Karmic Ice Cream's main focus, the Popkins continue to serve "sell through" events on a limited basis. The vehicles, including a "happiness ambassador," rent for $350 for the first hour and $95 for each additional hour, plus $3 to $5 per ice cream bar. Additional rates apply for late-night events and rentals in areas beyond the company's 30-mile radius.

For "sell through" events, Popkin makes a point of finding out what other dessert trucks are participating. He shies away from events with more than three dessert trucks.

"After people have a meal from a regular food truck, you're fighting for those extra couple dollars they may have," he said.

Fortunately, there has been no shortage of demand for the vintage ice cream trucks that allow people to relive their childhood memories buying ice cream from trucks, or, as Popkin's s wife Debbie stated, reliving "the childhood they wish they had."

Photos courtesy of Karmic Ice Cream.
 

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.