New York ice cream entrepreneur Douglas Quint on why business stinks during a heat wave
Age: 38
Location: New York, NY
Why we care: A classically trained musician, Douglas Quint went into the ice cream business completely by accident when a friend told him she could get him a truck. In June 2009, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck debuted at Brooklyn Pride to much fanfare, garnering attention from publications like New York magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Quint's famous Choinkwich, caramelized bacon and chocolate soft-serve sandwiched between two chocolate cartwheel cookies, is adored by bacon lovers everywhere.
Were you the kid who blew his allowance on candy?
I blew everything on comics and Legos. I’ve never been a prolific candy-eater, I’m happy to say, but cookies and milk? Forget about it. My boyfriend Bryan knows that if we come home with cookies he has to hide his share.
Now that you’ve got your own ice cream truck, do you find yourself craving salads?
I tell ya, once you’re surrounded by soft-serve you have to reassess your relationship with it. It’s like dating someone and then having them move in with you — boundaries need to be defined. Within a week or two of working on my truck I was eating ice cream only to test for texture and freshness, and to try new topping combinations.
When you’re not driving the BGICT, you’re a professional bassoon player. What is your winter like?
I’m a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center at CUNY and play the bassoon in the winter. Just because the truck's locked away doesn't mean I don't have things to do for it. There's lots of business work, financial planning, thinking about ways I can improve day-to-day operations.
Before becoming an ice cream man, what was the strangest job you’ve had?
As a musician I’ve played some pretty strange gigs. One that jumps to mind was in a maximum security prison in New Jersey. We had to be patted down and lectured on how to run for our lives. It was like that HBO show, Oz. There were tiers of cells, and we were told we had to be careful with our wire music stands because someone could take them and make them into weapons. It was daunting! But the people who came by to listen to the music really appreciated it.
Before that, as part of a scholarship to a music camp, I had a job where I had to scrape plates into a bin labeled “hog.” The camp sold the scraps to local pig farmers.
Have you ever considered leaving New York City for someplace more affordable?
Sure. I love New York, and I love it even more now that I have this bizarre job, but I’m not married to living anyplace in particular.
What’s your favorite cheap indulgence in New York, aside from your own ice cream?
My favorite cheap, and usually free, thing to do here is walk. If you walk around the city and keep your eyes open you’ll find free entertainment and cheap food, and you’ll be an active participant in a perpetual circus. If you’re broke in NYC, just put on your shoes and walk. It works no matter where you are, but here there’s no excuse to not hit the street.
Has starting a small business made you more careful with your money?
I’ve always been relatively careful with finances. The hard thing for me was the initial cost of starting and operating a business, and then learning the basics of corporate finance. Even setting up a business checking account was harder than I expected – there are so many forms, so many steps. It’s no wonder my grandfather used to hide his store’s payroll under the stairs in his house.
What’s the most expensive ingredient you use?
Bacon! We also use a particular grape syrup called Saba which is costly, and we use very high-end olive oil.
What’s the most surprising expense you’ve encountered with the BGICT?
The truck started as a summer job, it wasn’t meant to be more than a lark. Suddenly we were getting press all around the world, and realized we needed to protect the business. We were fortunate to find pro bono legal aid, but the expenses of incorporating and trademarking designs came out of nowhere.
When you were starting out, did you look into what startup costs were going to be?
I really didn't think that this was going to be a business. I just thought I had to print a poster and that would be it. The truck actually came to me randomly. A friend and fellow musician asked me if I was interested in doing this as a side job, and that she could get me a truck.
Did you have to buy the truck?
No. So there wasn't that cost. I own the business, but not the truck.
We just had a terrible heat wave. Did you see business improve during that time?
Actually, not so much. That kind of heat doesn't help! Nobody wants to wait out in 100-degree weather waiting for ice cream to melt. But I will say that business is much better than it was last year.
That's great! Do you think the ice cream truck will help get you to retirement?
Well, we're still in a startup phase, but it is helping. It's helping me not spend any of my savings! I'm just too busy to do anything else that requires me to spend money. But before I had the truck, I'd be waiting around for more bassoon work, and when that happened, my pockets would get depleted.
If you didn't have the truck, what would you have been doing?
I'd definitely be playing the bassoon full-time. There would be ramen noodles involved, definitely. I don't do this because I'm a contractor, but the standard case for a lot of full-time musicians is to go through a season of work and then go on unemployment. I'd just have to rely on emergency rations.
As a Mainer, were you raised with a D.I.Y., Yankee-thrift spirit?
God, yes. I’m extremely practical. I buy a pair of sneakers and wear them until they rot off my feet. That aspect of my thriftiness is something I wish I could let go of occasionally. On the other hand, I’m not afraid to do my own plumbing and wiring, and I can sew my own buttons.
New Yorkers can track the truck's daily whereabouts on Twitter: @biggayicecreamAre you rich now? And other invasive questions for notable folks, in previous episodes of Other People's Money:
- Always paying with cash: The Awl's Choire Sicha
- I racked up $60,000 in debt: Celebrity colorist Rita Hazan
- Not saving for retirement: Brain Pickings blogger Maria Popova
- Quitting fashion to open America's hottest vegan bakery: BabyCakes' Erin McKenna
- How money shaped his childhood: Found Magazine's Davy Rothbart
