Scream Truck employee Mia Miller, center, speaks with customers. Scream Truck, an ice cream truck company that will bring ice cream to your home or business on-demand makes a stop at the Rose Valley Nursery in Stirling on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

A massive hot pink truck covered in colorful sprinkles glided along a residential street in Morris County this week, but instead of playing the familiar ice cream truck jingle, it was silent.

The towering truck — standing 11 feet 3 inches tall — pulled up to a specific address in Stirling and started to blare a Justin Bieber song. A woman walked down her front steps to pick up her pre-ordered, pre-paid soft serve vanilla ice creams.

Brynn LaCosta had just scored ice cream for her two girls and barely had to lift a finger. There was no frantic running to flag down an ice cream truck, no scramble to find a few dollars and definitely no sweat dripping down a forehead while waiting in line.

“They love it, they get so excited,” LaCosta said of her daughters, ages 4 and 6. “Every time they see the big pink truck they’re always screaming ‘ice cream truck!’”

This is Scream Truck, a relatively new New Jersey-based ice cream truck business that is trying to upend the way traditional trucks have operated for generations. With more than 12,000 Instagram followers, it operates year-round, with a peak season from April to August, when it’s open seven days a week.

Unlike traditional ice cream trucks, there is no slow driving around random neighborhoods trying to draw kids and parents out of their houses with songs over a loudspeaker. Instead, customers are alerted via text when the truck will be nearby that day and they can pre-order their ice cream and a stop at their house ahead of time if they’re interested.

Every town in the company’s territory is broken down into micro-neighborhoods. Customers who sign up in those vicinities receive text alerts on the days a truck will be coming through their area, along with a timeframe.

If they are interested in being added to the route that day, they can reply with “Y” signaling they’d like a stop at their house or business. They have an hour window to pre-order, and get a text when the truck is close. On the company’s end, a route is created and adapted as more people order for the day.

The company’s current routes include: Westfield, Mountainside, Cranford, Clark, Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Summit, Chatham, Millburn, Short Hills, Warren, Bernards Township, Bridgewater, Springfield, Somerville, Raritan, Garwood, Livingston, Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Long Hill Township, according to the website. More routes are being added.

A Scream Truck can also be rented hourly in other municipalities to serve treats at special events.

Eric Murphy launched the company in 2020 after selling two different companies he founded — an experiential marketing agency and an event tech platform — to Condé Nast in 2017. He stayed on with his old companies for a few years before getting into the mobile treat business.

“I used to joke in my agency that once I got sick of it, I was going to just start an ice cream company,” said Murphy, 51, of Basking Ridge. “I was half joking.”

His pitch: the traditional ice cream truck, beloved by the masses, has never really evolved. (The peppy introductory video on Scream Truck’s website announces, “The following video depicts the death of old school ice cream trucks. Viewer discretion is advised.”)

Traditional ice cream trucks have pre-packaged SpongeBob pops and other average treats, “usually in a pretty beat up vehicle,” leading to substandard experience, Murphy said. The whole operation is also largely inefficient, so Murphy said he wanted to modernize it.

Eric Murphy, founder of Scream Truck, at the company's Stirling hub.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

He dove into the research phase, then moved on to developing the software platform the company uses and coming up with the design for the first truck in 2020. The process was delayed a few months due to COVID-19.

The company announced its debut in a Westfield moms group on Facebook that June. Within the first 24 hours, 500 people signed up for the company’s initial routes, Murphy said. The company’s current territory spans select towns in Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union.

It does not do events outside of the towns listed on its website during peak season.

Each truck has two crew members. Its navigation system outlines the number of stops, their locations, and the specific order. They service about 12 households per hour, Murphy said.

“It’s really all about the efficiency of the routes that we create,” he said.

Trucks are stationed at the company’s two hubs in Sterling and Springfield. A cleaning crew arrives daily at 6 a.m. for a deep clean. Next, the trucks are restocked with ingredients by a different team. The final crew that operates and drives the trucks gets to the hub around 12 p.m.

Other ice cream truck companies have also tried to innovate in recent years, using apps and social media to connect customers with the rolling businesses.

A Mister Softee app allows users to find the nearest truck’s location. The Canadian company The Ice Cream Truck lets customers track a truck’s location live on its website and receive a text if it’s in the neighborhood. Other local ice cream businesses post their truck’s locations and hours on Instagram.

A freshly make ice cream treat made by the Scream Truck.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

On a recent sunny Tuesday with the temperature hovering above 90 degrees, a Scream Truck delivered orders to a few residential homes, an office where a manager treated her employees and a group of workers at a wholesale plant nursery.

The two employees in the truck worked around each other in the immaculately clean, air-conditioned space. Clear containers revealed vibrantly-colored “super sprinkles” from a specialty vendor in Los Angeles and cereal and other toppings. The cookie dough and cones were from retailers in Brooklyn.

Upstate Farms in New York supplies the soft serve mix while the non-dairy ice cream is from Mayday Ice Cream in St. Augustine, Florida. Fresh fruit pops are from The Hyppo Gourmet Ice Pops, also in Florida.

Prices start at $5 and average around $7. There’s no minimum or delivery free.

And people who haven’t pre-ordered and come across the truck get a free ice cream cone and contact card that explains the company’s business model. (Dogs always get a free “pup cup,” or vanilla ice cream with peanut butter.)

Mia Miller, the company’s director of operations, was Murphy’s first hire. The New York public relations agency she was working for was closing during COVID, and the Westfield native was searching for a new job. She came across an ad hiring for Scream Truck.

“Instagram,” said Miller, 25, when asked what led her to the company. “And fate.”

Since 2020, the company has significantly expanded to 40 employees. They have six trucks — with a seventh to be completed soon — and are located in about 20 towns, mostly in the central and northern areas of the state. More than 30,000 households have signed up.

Murphy initially launched the company with his own funds. He also raised just over $2 million in seed funding late last year, he said. The company made $1 million in revenue its first full year in 2021.

This year, they’re on pace to more than double that, he said.

The interior of a Scream Truck, a modern take on the traditional ice cream truck.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

Private events, from birthday parties and weddings to corporate team-building events, make up about half the company’s revenue, Murphy said. The company did 2,000 events last year with three trucks. Prices range from $249 to $749.

He said he hopes to continue scaling up and create a national brand, including merchandise. He aims to have at least 500 trucks across multiple states within 10 years. The company is also considering franchising opportunities.

The first five trucks were built by a business in Kansas City, but Scream Truck took over and now builds its own trucks, starting with the sixth.

But Murphy dismisses the idea his company is wiping out the traditional ice cream truck. “There’s definitely room for both of us,” he said.

Scream Truck employee Lauren Fazio, left, delivers an order to Brynn LaCosta at her home in Stirling.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

Alison Farrington hired the company for her husband’s pizza-and-ice cream 40th birthday party last August. The truck emblazoned a personalized message—”HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY DAN!”—with a partying face emoji on its LED screen, as it pulled up to their house in Clark, blasting music.

The company created a customized sundae for her husband (chocolate ice cream, chocolate crunchies and hot fudge) based on his preferences, which were relayed ahead of time.

It “literally blew away” the family’s roughly 20 guests, who were from towns outside Scream Truck’s current territory. Farrington, who has a nut allergy, also appreciated the vegan options and diligence of maintaining a separate nut-free section.

“It was beyond a hit,” she said. “I don’t think anybody doesn’t feel like a little kid when they show up.”

Scream Truck delivers premium ice cream on-demand to home or business

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