Midtown Lunch

Last week marked the beginning of fall and for those of you who follow the ice cream truck trade, that means that fewer and fewer trucks are on the road these days. While the last official day of the season isn’t until October 31st, it’s pretty much going to depend on the weather; about 1/2 of the regular trucks (both Softee and non branded white trucks) have already stopped for the season. Miss Softee is still out there (when it’s not raining!) and is currently running an ice cream contest. Want free ice cream? Details after the jump.

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With all the turf war controversy surrounding Mister Softee trucks, we’ve always imagined Softee President Jim Conway as some kind of soft serve puppet master, holed up in his Jersey lair ruling the summer streets of NYC with a iron fist.  Nope.  Saw him on Fox Business channel last week, and he looks like… well… the owner of a large (and extremely professional) ice cream company.  Miss Softee makes an appearance in the background, and Conway goes into some interesting business facts about Mister Softee- including the fact that the hours are long, and many of their franchises are owned by immigrants from South America, Eastern Europe and West Africa.

Check out the video after the jump…

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A winner has been chosen in the contest to name Miss Softee’s new ice cream truck, and allow us to be the firsts to say… AMAZING.   Congrats to Lunch’er “Ender” for coming up with that one, for his trouble he wins a whole month of free soft serve.  (If you entered, there is no shame is losing to that name.)  There are consolation prizes though… whoever came up with “Penelope” “Frozen Franny”  “The Miss Adventurer” and “Dolly” will get free ice cream for a week starting on Monday.

Profiled Lunch’er, City Council liveblogger, and all around great gal “Miss Softee” emailed us today about a contest she’s holding to win free ice cream for a month.  “The inspiration just isn’t coming to me, so I need help naming my new ice cream mobile.  Submit entries via Twitter or in person at the truck (location can be found on Twitter or the ML Twitter Tracker).  All submissions must be received by midnight tomorrow (07/01) one entry per person, no profanity, and winner will receive one free ice cream a day for the entire month of July (good at my truck only). Winner will be selected by myself and a group of other ice cream drivers on Friday, July 2.”  Good Luck! UPDATE: Don’t use twitter?  Miss Softee says she will accept any submissions in the comments of this post as well.

CNN’s “Best Jobs” video chronicling a day in the life of a Mister Softee truck sure did make the rounds on the old blogosphere yesterday!  We were slightly suspicious of its awfully rosy portrait of what it’s like to run a Mister Softee truck, and this morning everybody’s favorite Midtown Mister Softee vendor “Miss Softee” checked in to let us know that our suspicions were justified.

I just watched the video and wanted to expand on what she says, plus share a little more detail with the readers because to think that we’re making almost a thousand dollars a day in our pay is a bit absurd and is totally misunderstood!! I think that she gives a decent explanation of the job, including the long hours, the specifics of working for Softee (that they give you a route, a tune, and you have to use all of their product), but the whole ‘making 900 a day’ thing seems like it’s being misunderstood in this report. The TRUCK may pull in $900 on a really GOOD DAY. But, out of that sum, in addition to the truck startup fees (90K) there’s the ongoing costs: the products, the commissary/depot fee, the franchise fee, gas, incurred tickets, as well as any repairs of the truck, so, while $900/day in your pocket sounds great, that’s NOT what is actually going in!!

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Damn, that looks good!

Miss Softee returned to action this week (not just to live blog the City Counil meeting on Wednesday) but to sell soft serve too!  Today she’s parked on 44th and 6th, and there’s been a bit of drama with the coffee vendor on that corner… so as a way to coexist they’ve decided to offer ice cream coffee floats for $4 for the rest of the day.  We can totally support that, and not just because it’s a delicious looking treat.  It’s also nice to see vendors working together, as opposed to the alternative.  Get out there and show your support…

Right now, the City Council is holding a hearing to discuss the proposed Anti-vendor law.  Miss Softee (follow her on Twitter) is there, and will be sending us live reports from the scene…  you can read about the proposed law here.

9:45am – I’m in. security is prepping for a massive influx… they will close the doors once the room meets capacity, and it may fit 50-60 people.

10:07am – As people assemble, the few council members currently present shuffle a stack of papers for those that wish to testify. Lappin has yet to arrive.

10:08am – Based on what I can see, Eddie’s Pizza, Wafels and Dinges, Van Leeuwen, Frites and Meats, Cupcake Stop, NYC Cravings, as well as many lesser known vendors are here.

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Now that all of her vending paperwork is in order, Profiled Midtown Lunch’er “Chrissy” (aka Miss Softee) is officially back on the streets and parked right now (in a brand new truck) on 45th and 5th (UPDATE: She is moving to 39th and Broadway.) Today’s specials are “gimme s’more” and potato chip chocolate dip cone (if you like sweet and salty combo, this one is for you!).  Plus if you tell Miss Softee the name of her old truck from last year, she’ll give you a free cone until 4pm today (hint: it’s posted somewhere on this page).  Homemade baked goods and baby cones are promised for later this week. Keep tabs on Miss Softee via twitter or the ML Twitter Tracker.