A tech-forward ice cream truck founded about five years ago in Westfield, New Jersey is coming to Las Vegas. The Scream Truck is estimated to hit the streets by mid-September.
“When we got on our first truck and we were doing our routes, we would turn a corner and a family would be waiting outside for the truck, and they’d be jumping up and down and screaming,” said founder and CEO Eric Murphy. “Scream Truck made it a little bit of a nod to ice cream, but we also knew that Scream Truck could be something that people are just excited to get.”
Murphy, a “huge ice cream fan,” said he was always fond of ice cream trucks—but they were always “beat-up vans with prepackaged SpongeBob pops.” He wanted to create a tech-forward experience and alternative, which became the impetus of Scream Truck.
By the end of this year, Scream Truck is set to have about 125,000 registered households, making for a few hundred thousand customers across 175 towns in northern New Jersey.
Las Vegas is the ideal market for Scream Truck because of its density, which means the trucks can make more stops within their one-hour delivery windows, as well as its event and convention business opportunities, Murphy said.
“The last thing is just the fact that it’s Vegas, and people go to Vegas from all over the world and all over the country,” he said. “So for people to see Scream Truck and learn about the brand in that environment … it’s going to be great for us.”
Southern Nevada’s climate means more sellable days for Scream Truck, and master-planned communities mean the truck can hit hundreds of homes in one go, according to Louis Abin, founder and CEO of Ironbound Projects, a hospitality group leading the Las Vegas expansion.
“It’s kind of like when we used to sell bottle service and Chinese food to the hipsters,” said Abin, a former partner of Tao Group. “Now, the hipsters have two kids, and they think that this is a great idea. And it would really resonate with that demographic.”
Abin is working alongside his best friend turned business partner John Sumas, CEO of Village Super Market, who lives in New Jersey and was an early investor in Scream Truck, Murphy said.
“It’s kind of a mix between Uber Eats meets Amazon,” said Abin.
Unlike the traditional ice cream truck, Scream Truck is “pre-marketed,” Abin said. Users submit their name, phone number and address on the company’s website. Then, through proprietary software called Implse, they’ll receive a text in advance if the Scream Truck is going to be in their ZIP code.
“We’ll tell you we’re going to be in your neighborhood between this time and this time, (and) would you like to place an order,” Abin said. “And it’s a wildly successful impulse purchase.”
Scream Truck aggregates its orders, which go into the software, which routes everything according to time and location, Abin said. Once it reaches critical mass, the truck leaves the warehouse.
Users receive another ping when the truck is two minutes away, and are met with soft serve made to order.
The truck can also be booked for private parties or business events, Abin said.
And though the Scream Truck doesn’t play the telltale jingle of other ice cream trucks, it does have a curated music playlist, two big customizable screens for events and unique menu items including sundaes, shakes and more.
“It’s fun, and if you’re having a crappy day, to go out to the truck and hear some great music and get an awesome product—people love it,” Murphy said.
Scream Truck is an extra-personalized, super-efficient, tech-driven concept, Abin said.
“Out of all the concepts I’ve ever owned or been a part of, my kids think that this is beyond the most exciting and best thing to date,” said Abin, whose Ironbound Projects is also behind brands like Lotus of Siam and Naxos Taverna at Red Rock Resort.
Murphy said the goal is to put 1,000 Scream Trucks on the road across the country by 2030 to 2032. Once it builds up a large enough database, Scream Truck then can launch a pizza concept or a taco truck, or maybe even partner with a local bakery or restaurant.
There’s a lot of opportunity to utilize Scream Truck’s delivery concept in different ways, Murphy said.
“The company is really built around technology,” he said. “We’re really a technology company first … The company wouldn’t exist without our software.”
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