Dad...
I was inspired by Imp's blog about 'I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM' and weeks later I'm getting to actually do the blog.My dad was born in New York City.
Like most kids, my dad had an after school job. His was making (bicycle) deliveries for a sundries/pharmacy store. I'm told after a while, he was offered a position to work inside at the fountain serving ice cream, making milk shakes, sodas and banana splits. From this job, he actually learned how to make ice cream.
War time came along and he and his buddies decided to serve their country by joining the Navy.
They asked what kind of jobs he had and his answer was "I know how to make Ice Cream" Good... they assigned him to the commissary aboard the USS Missouri where he got to see many stops in the Pacific Ocean. Ice cream on the ship was packaged in thick paper pint-size cartons shaped like 'bricks' hundreds of them.
The story told was the money they made in the Navy was invested in watches and jewelry purchased on shore leave and sold to the guys who had to stay on the boat. The profits from that bought them money to buy raw ingredients to make more ice cream. Soon they were bartering and again turning profits back into their side business. With surplus ice cream they soon sold to guys from other boats docked at the same port.
If you've seen any Navy movies or documentary, they could signal from boat to boat using a version of Morse Code and a signal light.
As 2 boats got close they would shoot a steel cable of the bow of the other boat and they would tighten it. Duffel bags were used to pass mail from boat to boat. When they learned it was the Missouri "Do you have any ice cream?" was a popular request.
My dad was on the Missouri when Japan signed a surrender with the United States. He came home with a badge mounted to a wooden plaque to signify his assignment.
Back to civilian life and my dad tried a being a business owner. Although he was in the right place at the right time, that wasn't his calling in life. Long hours for a guy starting a family was too much for him. He had a sundries store across from a school and bought a new style machine that could make soft serve ice cream. Something different from scooping hard ice cream out of gallon tubs. He had 2 flavors. Vanilla and Chocolate.
His only competition at the time was a guy across town who only had soft serve in one flavor... Vanilla.
I'm told my father sold the business and went to work for someone.
Oh, that guy across town was Tom Carvel.
Comments (5)
Your dad must have been quite a popular guy in summers.
I'm guessing that Carval added a lot more flavors, and that's also partially
why your dad became the one, who couldn't compete ?
All this happened before I was born. I had heard a story he loaned money to a family member to open a business and didn't get repaid. That may have been a factor.
Carvel initially sold ice cream (only) from a truck. Soft serve machines manufactured then were to large to be portable. At that time everyone had ice cream in buckets. My dad had a luncheonette and did more than ice cream. So, I'm sure it wasn't competition. Besides, New York (even back then) had great opportunity. An example would be: when 3 pizza shops are always filled with customers, no one thinks of competition.
My mother and father had the same story, but my mother had a better recollection of the excessive hours he worked to run the business by himself.