In the beginning, the ice cream truck business was just for fun, and the partners simply “wanted to make ice cream as happy as possible again.” But with flavors like “Salty Pimp” - vanilla ice cream with dulce de leche, sea salt and a chocolate-dipped shell - and the “Golden Girls”-inspired “Bea Arthur” (now called the “Dorothy”)- vanilla soft serve topped with dulce de leche and crushed vanilla wafers - the truck quickly attracted a huge following. It wasn’t until Petroff suggested they do something interesting with the menu that Big Gay started experimenting with unexpected toppings.
The truck began by selling traditional soft-serve ice cream, akin to Mister Softee or New York Ice Cream. To Quint’s surprise and delight, the truck’s owners were completely on board. “I wanted to put a sign on it that said ‘Big Gay Ice Cream Truck,’” he says, explaining that the name came from a Facebook group he and Petroff had started years earlier.
