Big Gay Ice Cream (BGIC) is a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

–based company that started with an

ice cream truck An ice cream van (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or ice cream truck (North American English) is a commercial vehicle that ice cream products are sold from, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans ...

. 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. BGIC was part of a wider trend of

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

and upscale

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but m ...

s popular in the United States. BGIC has an official theme song, written and recorded by

Jane Wiedlin Jane Wiedlin (born May 20, 1958) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actress, best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the new wave music, new wave band The Go-Go's. She voices Dusk, the drummer and ba ...

The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...

Name

The use of ''gay'' in the company name refers both to the

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

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

History

Doug Quint was a freelance classical

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

ist looking for a secondary occupation in the summer off-season. A

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

friend had been operating an ice cream truck of her own and suggested that Quint do the same. On June 13, 2009, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck began operations at Brooklyn Pride in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The ice cream truck itself has been dormant since 2011, with only occasional appearances for major events. BGIC East Village

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. Approximately a year later, they opened a second location in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

. A

pop-up store Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

opened in the

Ace Hotel Ace Hotel is a chain of hotels headquartered in Los Angeles and New York City. Founded in 1999 in Seattle, it operates hotels Internationally in 4 continents, with locations in; Brooklyn, New York City; Palm Springs, California; Seattle, Washing ...

in Los Angeles in late 2014. A Philadelphia location opened in 2015 at the corner of

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and South Broad Streets. 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 Anthony Michael Bourdain ( ; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and Travel documentary, travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the huma ...

, released in 2015. The business relies on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

instead of traditional advertising, in order to connect directly with its customers. 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. In 2025, the last remaining Big Gay Ice Cream location closed.

References

External links

* Officia
website
{{Authority control Food manufacturers based in New York City Food retailers of the United States Ice cream parlors in the United States Ice cream vans Restaurants established in 2009 2009 establishments in New York City American companies established in 2009 Ice cream parlors in New York City Food trucks in New York City

Name

History

See also

References

External links