Mister Softee, Inc. (doing business as Mister Softee) is an American

ice cream truck An ice cream van ( British) or ice cream truck (North American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or ne ...

franchisor, best known in the northeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The company is based in Runnemede, New Jersey.

Business history

Mister Softee was founded in 1956 by brothers William Aloysius Conway (1922–2004) and James Francis Conway (1927–2006) in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. Headquartered in Runnemede, New Jersey since 1958, Mister Softee became one of the largest franchisors of soft

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

in the United States, with about 350 franchisees operating 625 trucks in 18 states. Around 1999, William and James' sons, John P. Conway and Jim Conway, Jr., took over the business.

China

English-teacher-turned-entrepreneur-now- stand-up-comedian Turner Sparks was roommates with Alex Conway – Jim Conway, Jr's. son while attending the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. Sparks spoke fluent Mandarin and had been teaching English in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

. In 2007, with Alex's help, Sparks launched a Mister Softee China franchise in

with just one truck. Five years later, Sparks had ten trucks and 25 employees, with plans to expand throughout China's eastern region. Mister Softee China had created a menu that combined classic American ice cream products of shakes, floats, and sundaes with new Chinese products such as

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since th ...

ice cream,

red bean Red bean is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * Adzuki bean (''Vigna angularis''), commonly used in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese cuisine, particularly as red bean paste Red bean paste () or red bean jam, also called adzuki ...

ice cream,

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwif ...

sundaes, and milk tea floats. While its American counterpart operated almost exclusively with trucks, Mister Softee China had kiosks in downtown shopping areas and trucks throughout China's suburban neighborhoods and business districts. Mister Softee suspended its China operations in 2016.

Jingle

The melody broadcast from Mister Softee trucks – bearing the likeness of a music-box – is a

contrafactum In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this procedure (sometimes referred to as ''adaptation''), date back ...

of Arthur Pryor's 1905 composition, "The Whistler and His Dog." Philadelphia ad man, Les Waas ''(né'' Lester Morton Waas; 1921–2016) scored it with new words for Mister Softee, and titled it, "Jingle and Chimes." Waas created close to 1,000 jingles. "Jingle and Chimes" (lyrics) – , " jaunty"

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

Intro :: Here comes Mister Softee :: The soft ice cream man. 1st verse :: :: :: :: 2nd verse :: :: 3rd verse :: :: :: :: Coda ::

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...

, while

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, launched an ambitious initiative in 2002 to crack-down on city noise, which included jingles broadcast from ice cream trucks – and in particular, the jingle from Mister Softee trucks. In 2005, in the face of opposition from citizens and members of the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

, he compromised. Rather than banning mobile jingles, he permitted the trucks to air them, but only while in transit.

Trademark infringement cases in New York

Mister Softee has defended its trademarks, notably in the following two cases: * Dimitrios Tsirkos, who until 2014 had for decades been a Mister Softee franchisee in New York, launched a competing ice cream vending company, which was incorporated January 24, 2014, in New York under the name Master Softee Inc., and, among other things, used Mister Softee's jingle. Mister Softee, in 2014, sued Tsirkos in

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New Y ...

and prevailed on three

allegation In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

s: (i) breach of franchise agreements, (ii)

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may ...

, and (iii) other unfair business practices. In 2016, U.S. District Judge

Laura Taylor Swain Laura Taylor Swain (born November 21, 1958) is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and career Born in Brooklyn, New York, Swain earned an Artium Baccalau ...

held Tsirkos in contempt for failing to begin payments on a $97,000

judgment Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...

handed down in the 2014 case. * The next year, Mister Softee won, by default, a Federal lawsuit against Dimitrios Konstantakakos and 3 DDD Ice Inc. – owner of New York Ice Cream Truck Inc. of

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

– preventing him from using Mister Softee's jingle.
With respect to defending the trademarks, Mister Softee vice president Jim Conway has stated, "For 58 years we've spent our time, energy, and money developing brands. We're one of the most recognized brands. The people who are infringing on our trademark are not only hurting Mr. Softee, but also hurting our mom and pop franchisees. We take these actions to protect them as much to protect our own brand."

Doug Quattlebaum

In June 1961,

Doug Quattlebaum Elijah Douglas Quattlebaum (January 22, 1929 – March 1, 1996), better known as Doug Quattlebaum, was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He recorded one single for Gotham Records in 1953, but was offered another opp ...

, an American

Piedmont blues Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melod ...

guitarist, singer and songwriter, was 're-discovered' playing popular and blues songs through the

public address system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

of his Mister Softee

ice cream van An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (North American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near ...

. The blues historian,

Pete Welding Peter John Welding (15 November 1935 – 17 November 1995) was an American historian, archivist, and record producer specializing in jazz and blues. Born in Philadelphia, United States, Welding worked as a journalist for '' Down Beat'' magazine and ...

, who became known for discovering talent in unusual places, heard his performances and arranged for him to record an album. Released by Bluesville Records, ''Softee Man Blues'' (1963) had a photograph of Quattlebaum in his ice cream uniform on its front cover.

Notes

References

External links

{{Commons category, Mister Softee
Official website

Article about ice cream truck music

Mister Softee Ice Cream Truck Theme/Jingle
Ice cream brands Ice cream vans Fast-food franchises Fast-food chains of the United States Companies based in Camden County, New Jersey American companies established in 1956 Restaurants established in 1956 1956 establishments in New Jersey Cuisine of Philadelphia Runnemede, New Jersey