Ice Cream Man is a business entity that gave away 500,000 free units of ice cream since its founding in 2004 In the process the organization became a fixture at
music festivals
A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...
across the United States. Ice Cream Man had over 100 volunteers committed to the idea of free ice cream for all.
History
Ice Cream Man was founded by Matt Allen (aka Ice Cream Man), a resident of
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
. In the summer of 2004 Allen purchased a 1969 Chevrolet Step-Van in order to work as an ice cream man in
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population w ...
. At the end of the summer he decided to give away the leftover inventory to Ashland residents in the venue of an ice cream social at Garfield Park. The novelty of free ice cream garnered the attention of local news media and inspired Allen to base a startup project on the idea.
Ice Cream Man gained major media exposure when it was granted backstage access at the main stage of
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...
2006. Soon after, Ice Cream Man began receiving interview requests and attention from future sponsors. Since 2006, Ice Cream Man has been a backstage fixture at almost every US rock music festival including
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...
,
Sasquatch! Music Festival
Sasquatch! Music Festival was an annual music festival held at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, United States. It took place on Memorial Day weekend, running for three to four days.
In 2018, it was announced that the festival was c ...
,
Bonnaroo
Bonnaroo (or Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival) is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment.
Bonnaroo has taken place at what is now Great Stage Park, a 700-acre (280 ha) far ...
,
Pitchfork Music Festival
Pitchfork Music Festival was an annual music festival in Union Park (Chicago), Union Park in Chicago, Illinois, organized by the online magazine ''Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork.'' Starting in 2011, the festival announced a branch staged in Paris ...
, ATP,
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...
,
SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
, and
Outside Lands Music Festival.
Business model
Ice Cream Man’s business model is based on mutual exposure and advertisement. In exchange for funding of its operations, Ice Cream Man attempts to increase word-of-mouth promotion and build a popular association between its sponsors, free ice cream and the experience of music events. In this way, Allen states, Ice Cream Man is trying to establish a foothold in what he believes is a growing
experience economy
An experience economy is the sale of memorable experiences to customers. The term was first used in a 1998 article by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore describing the next economy following the agrarian economy, the industrial economy, ...
. The foremost example of Ice Cream Man’s business model is its use of two
Yaris hatchbacks from Toyota as ice cream delivery vehicles for the 2009 summer season.
See also
*
Ice cream van
An ice cream van (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 are often used for street vending and ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Cream Man (Business)
Ashland, Oregon
Companies based in Long Beach, California
Cuisine of the Western United States
Ice cream vans