Throughout their years living in New York City, Bryan Petroff and Douglas Quint had always focused on their respective careers — until they got themselves a Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Their seasonal truck debuted in June 2009 and since then the business has seen a whirlwind of publicity and has been become an NYC favorite. Big Gay Ice Cream spins a new take on the old school ice cream parlor experience by mixing high quality ingredients with guilty pleasures, traditional flavors with the unexpected, and a youngster's imagination with an adult's know wink and satirical tongue. It's both for kids and for those of us who are kids at heart.
To help bring rainbow sprinkles and Salty Pimps to ice cream lovers year-round, the first Big Gay Ice Cream Shop opened in September 2011 in New York City’s East Village, a West Village location in December 2012. In 2015 they stepped outside NYC and opened in Philadelphia's Center City. 2016 welcomed the opening of Shake Society, their smaller-menu kiosk concept that features milkshakes and soda floats.
In June 2012, Dessert Professional featured Big Gay Ice Cream in their 10 best ice cream parlors in the U.S. issue. Then in May 2013, The Daily Beast and USA Today ranked Big Gay Ice Cream as the #5 best ice cream parlor in the world – the highest ranked U.S. ice cream parlor on the list. Their soft-serve has been called “awesome” by the press and The Village Voice placed Big Gay Ice Cream as one of “New York’s ice cream powerhouses – not only for what they do with ice cream, but for the ice cream itself."
The pair released their first cookbook. Big Gay Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats: Going All the Way with Ice Cream in April 2015, published by Clarkson Potter. In spring 2017 they launched seven packaged ice cream pints flavors that are both re-creations of some of the most popular flavors at the Big Gay Ice Cream shop and concoctions that were created just for the pints.
RECOGNITIONS
USA TODAY
Best Ice Cream Parlors In The World
#5 Worldwide / #1 United States
THE DAILY MEAL
Top 101 Food Trucks (#3)
Top 5 Desserts — NYCWFF
12 VILLAGE VOICE WEB AWARDS
Best Professional Twitter Account
CBS NEW YORK
10 Best Halloween Treats
RED TRICYCLE TOTALLY AWESOME AWARDS
Coolest Cold Treat — NYC
METROMIX
Best of Metromix 2012 (Ice Cream)
REFINERY 29
2011 11 Best Food Trucks in NYC
AM NEW YORK: THE HOT LIST
Best food truck turned
brick-and-mortar store
DAILY CANDY NYC
Best New Restaurants of 2011
METROMIX YEAR IN DINING 2011
Fave block of the year
REFINERY 29
2011 11 Best Food Trucks in NYC
2010 VENDY AWARDS
Nominee: Best Dessert Truck
KLOUT
2012 Top 10 Most Influential Food Trucks
2011 Top 10 Most Influential Food Trucks
2010 Top 10 Most Influential Food Trucks
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
2010 25 Best Food Trucks
MEN'S HEALTH
July/August 2010
Top 10 Best Street Eats In The Country (Salty Pimp®)
TIME OUT NY
Best New Street Treats 2010
2009 VENDY AWARDS
Nominee: Best Dessert Truck
Nominee: Best Rookie Truck
THE VILLAGE VOICE
2009 Best Street Food
NEW YORK PRESS
2009 Best Street Vendor
THE VILLAGE VOICE
2009 Runner-Up
10 Best Ice Creams & Frozen Treats
GOURMET MAGAZINE
8 Great Street Food Vendors
TIME OUT NY
2009 50 Things To Do When You're High
SERIOUS EATS NEW YORK
2010 People's Choice Awards: Best New School Food Truck
SERIOUS EATS NEW YORK
2009 Best New Food Truck
ALI FORNEY CENTER
Big Gay Ice Cream proudly supports the Ali Forney Center, which has been making a difference by rescuing homeless LBGTQ youth from the streets and placing them into safe environments since 2002. For more information, please click here.