“Our Ice Cream Truck” cruises local south town neighborhoods weekly, serving up sweets for the streets that patrons are going nuts for. Based out of East Aurora, Paige Huetter and her mother Lynn spearhead this woman-owned business, with four of Huetter’s children heavily involved in promotion.
The ice cream truck hit the road last April, and this is the second business Huetter and her mother started, the first being Tap Truck Buffalo. Huetter said they bought five Mr. Cool trucks, two of which they rebranded in a pink and blue theme, designed by her children. The original plan was to convert them into more tap trucks, but Huetter explained they had different ideas in mind: “My mom and I went back and forth. My husband was in on a lot of the conversations, and we said screw it, and we just pulled the trigger and it’s been a fun adventure thus far.”
Our Ice Cream Truck is the hottest thing on the block. More than selling ice cream, the venture is heavily involved in the community, supporting fundraisers and school events.
Huetter says, “We mostly stick to the south towns, which is where we’re based out of. We have fun with it. We make sure we are doing our best to give back to a community that has given so much to us.”
Among their charitable endeavors, they were posted at the Classic Rink - East Aurora for East Aurora Little Loop Football & Cheerleading Flag Football to raise funds for a local mom and cancer survivor riding in the Ride for Roswell. Huetter says the ice cream business donated the proceeds from that event to the family to meet their fundraising goals.
Being a single mother for a period before marriage as well as a coach for their children’s sports teams, Huetter says she understands the importance of being involved in schools and being an active community member. “I think it’s important to provide fun, healthy, and safe environments for our kiddos, and if we can give back to schools, we do a lot of that as well,” she says.
Our Ice Cream Truck offers a variety of flavors as well as stone-cold classics. They have dairy free, gluten free, and kosher options, so everyone can enjoy all the ice cream truck has to offer. Huetter says, “We offer a ton of characters like Batman, Ninja Turtles, Spongebob, Minions, and Spider-Man. The kids all seem to get really, really excited for [them], which is fun to see. And the adults love the classics of the ice cream sandwich and the strawberry, chocolate crunch bars, and the Nutty Buddy cones, so it’s fun to see the range of what people reminisce about.”
Our Ice Cream Truck also offers dog-friendly ice cream with flavors such as Nutly & Cheese and Peanut Butter. Huetter says they offer dog ice cream options when they offer street vending services and at events related to dogs, such as when they served ice cream for dogs for Sadie’s Safe Harbor Canine Rescue last year. “We kind of try to check a lot of boxes to get a lot of people and animals covered,” she says.
Going forward, Huetter says they will continue to grow business by being visible in the community they serve and by booking events. As of now, she said they gain notoriety through word of mouth. “Our trucks are well-branded. They’re familiar. We have business cards we hand out,” she says as she explains how they get creative with marketing. They also hand out ice cream tokens at events for patrons who can use them the same day or later when they come through the neighborhood.
Although the ice cream market is a rocky road, Our Ice Cream Truck manages to stay ahead through their effective model of becoming a tenet of the community. When asked why take the risk in a business landscape that’s an increasingly niche market, Huetter says, “Why not?”
“My grandfather used to say you don’t have to be crazy to do stuff, but sometimes it helps,” she says. “We just kind of take a chance and go with it.”
Follow along with the ice cream fun at @OurIceCreamTruckBuffalo on FB
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