Skip to content

Cool summer bad for local ice-cream vendors

The feeling of cold, melting chocolate peanut butter swirl scoops dribbling down the hand that's wrapped around an icecream cone . It's enough to get anybody running towards the sound of the local ice cream truck.

The feeling of cold, melting chocolate peanut butter swirl scoops dribbling down the hand that's wrapped around an icecream cone .

It's enough to get anybody running towards the sound of the local ice cream truck.

On a hot summer's day, vendors can make a lot of money depending on the route.

But the problem this year and the last few is that summer was a lot chillier and wetter than usual - and that wasn't good news for vendors.

According to two ice cream truck companies, the more cold days in summer, the less money in their pockets.

"We've had a really rough go of it the last couple of years," said Ana Lepine, owner of Mr. Cool Ice Cream Ltd.

"We don't sell much at all (in cold weather)."

Lepine has been in the business for more than 25 years, but for the past few she's shut down every other one of her factories in B.C. and is now working from the last one standing, in Surrey.

"The number 1 factor is the weather," Lepine explained. "I was the largest vendor, with over 70 ice-cream trucks, but I had to close three depots, and now I'm down to one depot."

She said that most years she starts sending their vendors around in March, but this year it was delayed to the beginning of June.

"It's been pretty brutal, but it's important to get the word out there," she said. "It's one of the oldest professions. It started with the milk truck."

She said the Burnaby routes are as good as any other - but the rain affects business negatively across the Lower Mainland no matter what.

"The difference of the last few years with the weather is a lot of turnover with drivers," she said. "When it rains for work we lose them."

The other issues are the cost of running the trucks with rising gas prices and the harmonized sales tax, which made it all the more difficult for vendors to sell more expensive ice cream. Prior to the HST, ice cream only had the GST, but the HST made it harder to survive in the recession, according to Lepine.

"We also have to have a business licence for every single truck," she added. "They vary from $100 to $1,000."

Rainbow Ice Cream Novelties, which is based in Coquitlam and also serves Burnaby and the rest of the region, agrees that the weather has made business suffer.

"We had a very, very late start," Meedo Falou, operations manager, said. "This summer has been the roughest, although we've had some good events."

The 16-year-old company also does special events with its truck vendors and smaller mobile units, according Falou, in an effort to branch out with the business.

"Last year we were hit really hard," he said. "Canada Day is a major day, we have a lot of events, it's the one day you can count on, and we did a lot better than last year."

Falou also agreed that the HST has reduced income for the company.

"The cost of ice cream goes up every year and insurance does as well," he said.

But Falou remains positive about the future.

"Selling ice cream, we love it," he said. "I do have hope for the business despite the obstacles we face and the rising costs."

Falou said that the company is hanging in there, "but it's not like the old days when it was a very profitable business."

Lepine also has her hopes for the future and that the weather will improve. "In essence, it's not like what it was before," she added.

www.twitter.com/stefania_seccia