Big Gay Ice Cream

Big Gay Ice Cream
Company typePrivate company
IndustryIce cream
Founded2009 (2009) in New York City, New York
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
United States
Key people
Doug Quint, Bryan Petroff
ProductsIce cream
Websitewww.biggayicecream.com

Big Gay Ice Cream (BGIC) is a New York City–based company that started with an ice cream truck. At the company’s peak they operated four storefronts in New York City and one in Philadelphia. Co-founded by Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff, BGIC specializes in soft-serve ice cream cones, cups, and novelties with a menu of unique and unusual flavors and toppings.[1] BGIC was part of a wider trend of gourmet and upscale food trucks popular in the United States.[2]

BGIC has an official theme song, written and recorded by Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's.[3]

Name

The use of gay in the company name refers both to the sexual orientation of co-founders Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff and to its older, seldom-used definition, "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."[4]

Quint and Petroff were not seeking to be hyper-political with the name; they want their customers to interpret it however they want.[1]

History

Doug Quint was a freelance classical bassoonist 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 that Quint do the same.[5] On June 13, 2009, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck began operations at Brooklyn Pride in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.[6] The ice cream truck itself has been dormant since 2011, with only occasional appearances for major events.

After two years of operating a roving truck, Quint and Petroff opened their first store – the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop, in New York's East Village.[1] Approximately a year later, they opened a second location in the West Village. A pop-up store opened in the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles in late 2014.[7] A Philadelphia location opened in 2015 at the corner of South and South Broad Streets.[8]

The pair co-authored a book, titled Big Gay Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats: Going All the Way with Ice Cream, with an introduction by Anthony Bourdain, released in 2015.[9]

The business relies on social media instead of traditional advertising, in order to connect directly with its customers.[10] Quint and Petroff also frequently blog about their experiences.

In 2017, Big Gay Ice Cream started selling packaged pints of "hard" ice cream in convenience stores and grocery stores.

In 2023, after a "silent" partner took over the business by force, Quint sued to get back control of the company.[11]

In 2025, the last remaining Big Gay Ice Cream location closed.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Big Gay Ice Cream Chief Doug Quint Gives The Scoop To CNN Money: VIDEO - Towleroad Gay News". March 12, 2014.
  2. ^ "Start-Up Trends: Food Trucks". Inc.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  3. ^ "Interview: Doug Quint of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck". Menuism Dining Blog. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  4. ^ "New Yorkers Get Taste Of Big Gay Ice Cream Truck". NPR.org. August 8, 2009. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  5. ^ "Andrew Zimmern on 3 Sweet Ice Cream Shops: BGICT, Features, New York - Travel destinations, blogs, contests and offers from Delta Sky Magazine + deltaskymag.com". Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  6. ^ "Now Open: The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck – Eat Me Daily". Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  7. ^ Jen Harris, "Big Gay Ice Cream Upstairs now open at Upstairs Bar at Ace Hotel downtown", Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2014.
  8. ^ "Big Gay Ice Cream opens Philly shop", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 2015.
  9. ^ Jenny Rosenstrach, "Cooking", The New York Times, May 31, 2015.
  10. ^ Brian Anthony Hernandez. "Q&A: The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's Crazy Twitter Ride". Business News Daily. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  11. ^ Moskin, Julia (August 30, 2023). "The Fight to Control Big Gay Ice Cream, Which Made the Rainbow Its Brand". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ^ "Openings & Closings". West Side Rag. February 5, 2025.
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