Custom Ice Cream Truck Builds

Food trucks and concession trailers are some of the most profitable small businesses you can operate without specialized skills, but you still have to do it right. Your product and the effort you put in are key to your success. So, we can’t guarantee your mobile ice cream business will churn more ice cream than your competitors because, ultimately, that’s on you.

• Our unique models and true custom design capabilities can help you draw crowds with standout appeal. 
• Workflow efficiency is custom built into your mobile ice cream unit to help you maximize on the day’s trade. 
• From the design phase, we factor in local regulatory requirements for the areas you intend to operate in, ensuring they’re built in and not bolted on at the end. 
• Our quality workmanship helps minimize downtime and promote longevity of your mobile ice cream investment, and we back it with a two year warranty.

• Brand aesthetics and custom layouts
• A raised roof in smaller base units so you can stand upright
• Air conditioning
• Wall insulation
• Food-truck-quality flooring
• Optimal and easy-clean work surfaces
• Custom cabinetry for dry goods like cups and cones
• Compliance with local food truck regulations, specifically around your use case

• Churners: The heart of any soft-serve or hard-serve setup. We spec churners to match your expected volume, not just whatever fits the space.
• Scoop Display: Your scoop case is a sales tool as much as storage. We can build you a display that keeps the product at temperature and in view.
• Soft Serve Machine: Single or multi-flavor, we fit the machine to your menu, not the other way around.
• Chest Freezers: For pre-packaged bars, pops, and backup stock, these are sized according to your route length and how often you’re near a restock point.
• Power and Backup: Generator, shore power, or a hybrid setup, we’ll match the output to your equipment’s real draw so you’re never caught mid-shift with sales and profits melting away.
• The Traditional Music Box and/or Sound Systems: If you’re going the “kid-friendly” route, you’ll be wanting to signal your arrival in the hood with the traditional music box. If you’re taking more of an artisanal route targeting a more mature crowd, you may still want to source a good sound system. 

What’s unique to ice cream trucks is that you are a traffic hazard that can be held responsible for accidents with kids and bystanders even if you are acting responsibly. 

• Create a standard procedure to follow when stopping for sales.
• Consider big loud stop signs and indications on the body of the unit
• Never sell with the concession window to the street side, always face the curb.

With popping wrapping and a service window, a regular cargo van, like the Mercedes Sprinter, already makes a great basic ice cream truck. We start from there, as it’s by far the easiest and most popular option

If you’re after a van that’s quicker, more budget-friendly, and an all-round simpler way to get out there and start selling ice cream, this is a practical option to land on, and it’s not as difficult to park, insure, or run solo as some other options. A van like this offers big advantages in mileage, operating efficiency, and outright purchase cost over, say, a step van. An old shuttle bus often already has efficient A/C pre-installed too.

The only downside? The cargo van carries a little less of that natural visual appeal and customers do “eat with their eyes,” but an ‘easy-freezy’ option doesn’t mean you’re limited to cutting and mounting the service window, placing a chest freezer, and being on your way. We can customize our way around that for you. 

The classic Step Van converted to an ice cream truck is great for selling anything, from bars, to scoops, soft serve, or shaved. It’s the all familiar all-American ice cream van people know and love. 

At the lower range of budgets the base van used for conversion will be older and you’ll have to weigh the looks and familiarity of the step van against the more practical, though less eye-catching, standard cargo van’s reliability and economics.

The price of a custom step van ice cream truck is influenced mostly by the base truck used and how much work we decide it requires together. If you are not moving the truck all the time and your city has softer restrictions around emissions, an older 80’s or 90’s step van with a little TLC service to the engine and a brand new vinyl wrapping might be all you need. 

Our specialty is the custom vintage ice cream truck. Whether an iconic European old-timer or classic American vehicle is the base of your tailor made conversion, you’re more likely to stand out in the crowd when building around that eye-catching old-school vintage style.

Ice cream can be a pretty uniform product, especially if you’re selling shaved ice, soft serve or pre-packaged ice cream. You have to differentiate yourself through the branding, look, and feel of your build. There are few better ways to do that than going for a high class vintage food truck with a unique custom finish. 

Every single classic truck or van out there can be born again as a vintage ice cream truck. We frequently build on the vintage Citroen Type H vans, Volkswagen T1/T2 kombi’s, the Peugeot J7, and the Mercedes Benz Vario, but there are many more vintage options out there. 

If there are any downsides, it’s probably that space can be limited in comparison to a more modern and practical box truck or step van, and some larger US metro areas often have restrictive food truck regulations automatically excluding some older models. So it’s important to consider local compliance rules before committing to a specific vintage unit you come across. With that said, our discovery process will reveal whether this is the right option for you. 

This little ice cream receptacle on three wheels is like the cherry on top, or the sprinkles if that’s your preference, of mobile ice cream options. The 100% electric Piaggio Food Truck is an increasingly popular modern and eco-friendly offering, and just a highly mobile way to help your ice cream reach locations normal trucks would struggle to get to.

If you’ve considered all the classics and feel you’re still looking for something that can truly represent your high end brand with classic charm, but you’re a little concerned about the old engine headaches that can come with vintage builds, the New Type H is something, well, new for you to consider (The clue was in the name). This unique offering blends the modern chassis and high-performance engineering of the Ram ProMaster with the classic charm of the Citroën Type H, using official fiberglass body kits from Caselani.

“I’m sorry, what!?” we hear you say. We get that a lot. This isn’t a case of too good to be true. The cleverly designed body kits communicate that classic French aesthetic on the outside while retaining the reliability, safety, and parts availability of a brand new truck that’s readily available right here in the USA. 

If you’re still wondering if this is an option for you to consider, we’ve shared the project details on a custom build we delivered for the artisanal ice cream brand, Let’s Chill. It blends vintage Citroën character with a modern build underneath. Find the full project details here: Artisanal New Type H Ice Cream Truck Build

Financing Tip for Mobile Ice Cream Units

Take the seasonality of sales into account if you’re financing your truck! Make sure the financier accommodates this. The largest scoop of revenue for ice cream truck operators outside of the sun belt happens in 4-5 months of the year so it makes sense to pay off more of the financing in those months than around Christmas when you’re not able to sell a single cone.

Building your ice cream truck is only part of getting you on the road. Your brand’s communication objectives need to blend seamlessly with the operational requirements of your business, and both need to comply with local regulations. Getting it right is like getting three perfectly paired flavors in a triple scoop sugar cone, which is what you get when you partner with Karpatia on your custom build.

Tip on timing your ice cream truck build

A truck ordered in April has a very slim chance of being out on the streets in June, especially as you won’t be the only vendor considering selling ice cream as the temperature picks up. Prudence is ordering your ice cream truck at the end of the summer of the previous season.