Big gay ice cream guys – Doug quint and Bryan Petroff
Big Gay Ice Cream:
@biggayicecream (55.6K followers)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BigGayIceCream?ref=br_tf (25,568 likes)
http://biggayicecream.com/
Doug Quint is a free-lance classical bassoonist and was looking for a secondary occupation in the summer off-season. A flutist friend had been operating an ice cream truck of her own and suggested doing the same to Quint, who took her up on the suggestion. In June, 2009, Doug Quint and his partner, Bryan Petroff, founded and began operating the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck at Brooklyn Pride in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. They currently operate the Big Gay Ice Cream truck during the summer months, parking at various locations throughout New York City, and tweeting their location and specialty items du jour to their followers.
After two years of just a truck, they opened their first store. As of March 2014 they also have two stores, about 30 employees, during the summer, and are opening a location in Los Angeles.
The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck has made use of social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook to connect directly with their clientele rather than through traditional means of advertising. Quint and Petroff also frequently blog about their experience both on and off the truck.
Doug Quint:
Twitter: @GotTheShakes (493 followers)
Tweets by GotTheShakes
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user5371623
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4961493/
Credits:
Unique Sweets (TV Series) (2012-2013)
Ice Cream Nation (TV Movie)(2013)
Big Morning Buzz Live with Carrie Keagan (TV Series) (2012-2013)
United Tastes of America (TV Series) (2011)
Bryan Petroff:
Twitter: @BryanPetroff (99 followers)
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bryan-petroff/7/735/89a
Experience:
Co-Founder- Big Gay Ice Cream
July 2009 – Present (4 years 9 months)New York, NY
Learning & Communications Manager – Warnaco
March 2008 – July 2011 (3 years 5 months)
-Support both the Learning & Development & Internal Communications departments in training, various programs, meetings & events, & communications.
HR Project Manager – New York & Company
1998 – 2007 (9 years)
Education:
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
BFA, Fine Arts 1992 – 1996
In the Media:
Let the Big Gay Ice Cream Takeover Begin!
Doug Quint & Bryan Petroff plan to set up shop in Los Angeles this spring
1/29/2014 | OUT
http://www.out.com/travel-nightlife/city-guides/los-angeles/2014/01/29/big-gay-ice-cream-takeover-begins-guys-are
“We had no interest in West Hollywood, like we have no interest in opening up a shop in Chelsea in New York. For someone coming from New York, it’s a nice way of easing into Southern California lifestyle. There’s that downtown canyon corridor experience with 100-year-old buildings and converted lofts. And homeless people carrying plasticized mailbox cartons around with bungee cords. It feels like when I moved to New York in ’96. But we do love the idea of being in great company. We can have a kooky, funky-looking spot, and finally get the space to build a production facility.”
Known for their quirky dipped cones with soft-serve flavors such as Salty Pimp, Petroff says that they plan on developing popsicles and hard-packed ice cream in their new facilities. Plus, the ability to get fresh produce will expand their options for fresh ingredients for seasonal flavors.
……
Doug Quint: The Ice-Cream Man Cometh
May 2012 | The Julliard Journal
http://www.juilliard.edu/journal/doug-quint-ice-cream-man-cometh
“Stop making milkshakes and practice milkshakes,” an imaginary Frank Morelli whispered as his former student Doug Quint was failing to perfect the milkshakes he was trying to sell. “It was like I had jumped into a performance without practicing them and I went back and sort of dissected milkshakes from the beginning to the end,” Quint told The Journal recently. A native of Portland, Me., Quint received his master’s in bassoon from Juilliard in 1994 and eight years later is a part-time freelance musician and full-time ice cream entrepreneur. But shedding milkshakes, so to speak, was far from anything he could have seen himself doing during his Juilliard days.
Bassoon alum Doug Quint applies pumpkin butter sauce to vanilla soft-serve on his Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, which has been roaming Manhattan during ice-cream season since 2009. Now he has a store in the East Village, too.
In the spring of 2009, Quint said, he noticed a friend’s Facebook post seeking summer ice-cream truck drivers. “I thought, ‘I just want to do something weird for the summer after finishing my comprehensives and practice—but not have to worry about going to festivals or making money,’” said Quint, who at the time had been working toward a D.M.A. at the CUNY Graduate Center and freelancing with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and a number of ensembles in Boston.
That summer, Quint and his partner, Bryan Petroff, adopted a beat-up old Mister Softee truck and began dishing out soft-serve with unusual toppings, like crushed wasabi peas, olive oil, and toasted curried coconut. They named it the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and soon gained something of a cult following, with upward of 1,000 Twitter followers (this number has since grown to more than 30,000) and a write-up in The New York Times Dining section. Factor in a spot on The Village Voice’s list of best street food and two Vendy (best street vendor) Award nominations, and the venture’s success was promising enough to drive the first-time business owners to plan for a second year using more conventional business strategies. But for the winter months, Quint got back in musical shape and continued his bassoon career.
……
Big Gay Ice Cream’s business secrets
3/12/2014 | CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/11/smallbusiness/big-gay-ice-cream/index.html
Be different.
The couple, both in their 40s, used a castoff Mister Softee truck and focused on unexpected sweet-savory combinations. They experimented with olive oil, salt, vinegar — ingredients rarely found in desserts for the masses.
Embrace your customers.
Understand your niche.
Don’t dilute the brand.
They know ice cream is a slower sell in the winter, but you’ll never see a cauldron of Big Gay Chili or a specialty macchiato.