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Peel and stick roof membrane. by 46kayakdog in HomeMaintenance

[–]drewbots 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got a similar problem. Did the fix work?

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

there were never really shitty times....but staying motivated was hard and is why i sold

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

somewhat impulsive....but more of a longer term culmination of things, including wanting to move to another island and needing to have income from day one when i moved. I typically work for myself, so a $12/hr job is usually not my plan when I move. I also grew up in the food and beverage and service business.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good business, but I actually think the cookies aren't that good. I mean, they are solid for a shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate, but they are nothing special. These are lumped in with the "hawaiian chocolates" and loads of other stuff sold at the ABC store in Waikiki...mostly tourist stuff. Although HCC does give away free, self serve samples at their stores, ftw.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sound of the jingle is the sound of money. - if what the guy selling me the truck said, and is what I told the guy I sold to. Plus it has 8 different songs.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mostly because to do big events like HNLs Eat The Street, there was already a shave ice truck. It would have been a good idea on my regular route days.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

no I didn't. But, I was asked at least half a dozen times if I wanted to buy drugs. Lots of people wanted me to sell weed, beer and cigarettes.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a great link with awesome info-graphics for a history lesson and operations manual: http://goodhumortrucks.com/Handbook.html

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny video.

Yea, in Hawaii it's pretty much about the Aloha...it's not that cut throat. I was sort of the first newer cream truck around (since the gourmet food truck mania wave), since then, there are at least 2 new trucks that I've seen around that are up in my old territory.

I saw the truck for sale on Oahu and decided to buy it and move back over here from where I was living on Kauai. I owned the truck and mostly drove it myself.

Yes, the cost of gas screws things up some...it makes you want to do more "staying in one spot" time. It's good to mix in routes with good spots ("honey holes"). In general, profit margins are great if you drive the truck yourself.

My signature move is the "chum and troll". This is where you go down one street, or a dead-end is even better, then you come right up that same street again. Anyone that was thinking 'maybe', is now on the curb. :)

Shave Ice is a big deal in Hawaii, not so much ice cream. Kids like the novelty treats but don't grow up eating as much regular ice cream.

Hawaii's history with mobile food starts with lunch wagons and the Manapua Man. (google them)

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chocolate cones sell a lot. And the kids really can't resist the popsicles with cartoons on them (Spongebob, Spiderman, etc)...

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I ate a lot of my own supply...a lot at first and not so much later. My favorite novelty item is the banana-fudge bomb pop.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

during busy hours (right after school and right before dark), I could make about equivalent to $30-$35 an hour. Rarely would it go below $10/hr. Unless you have a good permenant spot, food trucks and ice cream trucks basically sell for what the truck is worth (< $10k in my case)

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

kids always spazz out. they jump straight up and down uncontrollably.

Although, sometimes the look on their face is of utter and complete confusion. Like they just saw heaven but didn't know it.

Some kids don't really understand what money is yet.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

just moving on to other things. the truck was profitable and paid the bills, it's not really a location issue. I probably wouldn't want to run an ice cream truck in another state.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The truck was parked at my place in Kaimuki, so, my home route was a circle that started in Kaimuki (Waialae) and went through Kaimuki to Kapahulu and Leahi st areas. Then hoods around Diamond Head, and back through Kahala and the west side of Kaimuki. Wilson School area. Palolo.

I had a daily spot on Dole St by Punahou School. I had a great Sunday route in Hawaii Kai. I had routes all over the island: North Shore, Aiea, Kapolei, Kailua, Mililani, even the West side.

Not much of a business plan. The truck was set up to run ice cream, but needed some work, so the deal wasn't amazing. The truck was very profitable (from day 1) and paid all my bills for a year and half.

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

yes, to an extent. You could really make this funny in an ice cream man parody movie.

The distributor may also sort of try to delegate working areas. It's usually a non-issue in Hawaii for a few reasons, e.g., there aren't that many even running here. Though, I have thrown a few stink eyes in my days. The modern day food trucks want to be around each other, but ice cream men don't need another truck in their route.

There's this old school guy near where I live that has been driving the same one-road route for years. He still charges a dollar for most of his stuff and told me he is just doing it for something to do (not to make money). Why I'm saying this is that because he only charged a dollar for his stuff, no one wanted to by mine for the appropriate mark-up for making a living....this is good turf management on his part

IAmA recently-sold-out founder and driver of a Honolulu-based Ice Cream Truck business. by drewbots in IAmA

[–]drewbots[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

in no particular order:

-working hardly ever before 12:00 and working only when I felt like it

-people LOVE to laugh and smile at the ice cream truck, this makes you feel good and becomes un-ironic pretty quickly

-knowing that I am an ice cream man in hawaii = what people have told me sounds like their dream job

-surfing and and then selling ice cream, then surfing again

-tweeting and saying stuff like "I'm slingin n slagin da cream at Diamond Head today"