{"id":552503,"date":"2026-07-31T05:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552503\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T05:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T05:50:10","slug":"there-is-nostalgia-to-the-ice-cream-van","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552503\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There is nostalgia to the ice-cream van"},"content":{"rendered":"

My family\u2019s been in ice-cream<\/a> for about 40 years. My grandmother bought her first van back in the early 1980s. I grew up around the business, and I had a feel for it.<\/p>\n

I was working as a taxi and limousine driver when the last recession hit, and I said to myself: \u201cOkay, what else can I do?\u201d<\/p>\n

I bought my van in 2008 and went from there. I have two now, and I still use the same colours as my grandmother: Yellow, purple and white.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a territorial business. It can be hard to get into, to know where to go and what to do. There were times in the first two years I was saying to myself: \u201cDo I even know what I\u2019m doing? Is this for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

I stuck with it, and I\u2019m almost two decades in now. Ben\u2019s Ices have regular routes around north Co Dublin, the housing estates in Rush, Lusk and Donabate. Fridays are the busiest weekday because they\u2019re considered a treat day for children.<\/p>\n

People are used to me coming and going. A lot of the children come out not necessarily to buy the ice-cream, but they want to tell you about their day, that they won a trophy in football, that they\u2019re excelling in something at school or they are going on holidays.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re good and professional, you pick up rapport with people. There\u2019s one particular housing estate that I\u2019ve been very accepted into. They had a street party a few years ago, and the children and parents made a banner that was hung across the road. It said: \u201cBen\u2019s ice-cream. Brilliant ice-cream man. Thanks for coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rewarding work. I feel guilty sometimes not being able to get around everywhere because you know people are waiting for you.<\/p>\n

There is nostalgia to the ice-cream van \u2013 it says it\u2019s not all doom and gloom. For some people, it\u2019s the only time they treat themselves during the week. There\u2019s one woman who always shares her ice-cream with her dog, and there are others who look forward to it after a long day.<\/p>\n

\"'It’s‘It\u2019s rewarding work. I feel guilty sometimes not being able to get around everywhere because you know people are waiting for you.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw \"'On‘On a busy day around the neighbourhoods, we\u2019d probably sell 300 ice-creams. If I do a corporate event, it could be up around 1,200.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

On a busy day around the neighbourhoods, we\u2019d probably sell 300 ice-creams. If I do a corporate event, it could be up around 1,200.<\/p>\n

Years ago, we used to start at 11am and be out till nearly 11pm, you wouldn\u2019t get away with that now. I\u2019m a parent myself, and you have to be mindful. There has to be a balance. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s taken off like a rocket\u2019: Artisan Irish ice-pop maker Kahuna Pops thriving in the heatOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Children are not up as late as they used to be, and they\u2019re in their houses on gaming consoles more than in the past. Society has changed. People have changed, but you adapt and work with it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so long at it now that the children who used to come to my van are now coming with their own kids. It\u2019s different generations. It makes me feel old, don\u2019t get me wrong, but it\u2019s great to see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My family\u2019s been in ice-cream for about 40 years. My grandmother bought her first van back in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4974,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-552503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-magazine","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}