Crips and Bloods have nothing over NYC's soft-serve scene
Foodservice entrepreneurs in New York City are dealing with a nightmare right out of “The Sopranos.” Anyone who’s spent summers there knows the streets are flooded with trucks selling soft-serve ice cream. The competition has always been keen, but nothing like it was this week, where rivals hunkered down for an old-fashioned turf war.
On one side is Mister Softee, a longtime favorite whose theme song, chimed out from the trucks as they drive or park, can be hummed by many a New Yorker. Its right to ply midtown, a prime market, is being challenged by a newcomer called New York Ice Cream. When a Mister Softee pulls up to the curb at lunchtime, it’s likely to be surrounded by a group of New York Ice Cream drivers, many of them alumni of Mister Softee. They pound on the windows and threaten whoever is at the wheel of the rival vehicle, according to a report in the New York Times.
Mister Softee has encouraged its drivers to stand up for their rights, but the threat of violence has deterred them, according to the Times report. It’s resigned itself to the what was termed the rules of the street.