Douglas Quint, an out and proud gay man, opened his first ice cream truck on a whim one summer, and decided to shake up the traditional soft-serve scene by offering gourmet toppings combined in creative ways. The result was Big Gay Ice Cream, which now serves “Salty Pimps” and “Bea Arthur” cones from two NYC storefronts and counting.
“Rather than calling it Doug’s ice cream or something cliché like that, I decided to call it Big Gay Ice Cream because the whole concept of me parading around the city in a truck serving specialty ice cream just seemed kind of gay”
While studying for his doctorate at the CUNY grad center, Doug had no idea that he would go from making sweet music to building a wildly successful ice cream empire.
Before he started his business endeavor, Doug Quint was freelance musician and a student. Instead of going on tour he decided he would stay in New York and find a job that was completely unrelated to music at all. In 2009, he bought his first ice cream truck, where he found his niche of making specialty toppings.
“I wanted to give customers something more than just regular ice cream, so instead of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles, you can get a vanilla cone with wasabi pea dust.”
The Bea Arthur, a vanilla cone with dulce de leche and grounded vanilla wafers, is one of the most popular cones The Big Gay Ice Cream serves.
“Someone on Twitter suggested we’d call it the Golden Girl, that’s when my boyfriend Brian suggested we’d call it the Bea Arthur and the reason we went with Bea was because her will had just been read and she left more than a quarter million dollars to the Ali Forney Center, which is a LGBT center for homeless teens so we named the cone after her.”
Doug’s outgoing personality and masterful use of social media factored in to his success.
“I had no idea that food trucks would become such a cultural phenomenon. And Twitter was just blowing up at the time, so I tried to reach out to customers using that platform, thankfully my sense of humor and sass were well received”
In 2011, Doug and boyfriend Brian Petroff added the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop in the East Village on 7th street between 1st ave and Avenue A.
“It’s awesome to see all kinds of people coming to the shop, gays and straight we cater to all. As a community we’ve faced a lot of discrimination and hate. The Big Gay Ice Cream is a place were all kinds of people could come together and enjoy a delicious treat”
The Big Ice Cream has become a staple for the gay community in New York City. These ice cream cones are like no other, they are special because they are diverse and rich in flavor kind of what being gay in NYC is all about.
