March 29, 2024
Local News | Kane County Chronicle


Local News

Melting point: Kane ice cream truck drivers feeling heat

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ST. CHARLES – Eskimo Man Ice Cream truck driver Jason Black clanked the truck's bell to make sure the neighborhood children knew he was coming down their street.

Black had to drive down several streets before any children appeared on the curb.

"Business has been a little slow," Black said.

Black, 32, of Aurora, is working as an ice cream truck driver for the second summer in a row to help put himself through college. He is going to the College of DuPage to earn his degree in computer networking.

Last summer, Black said he saw sales of between $300 to $400 on a weekend. This year, he's lucky to make between $200 and $250 on the weekend.

And while this spring and summer has been on the warm side – creating a demand for a cool, icy treat – the stormy weather the area has seen lately has been dampening business.

"We had a lot of rainy days this past month," Black said.

Aurora-based Curbside Limited operates about a dozen Eskimo Man trucks in the area.

Company president Jeff Anderson attributed the drop in business to the downturn in the economy.

"A lot of retail businesses are down," Anderson said. "No one is immune from what is going on."

His father, Ervie Anderson, started the business about 60 years ago. He passed away in 2002.

High gas prices are also posing a challenge. Eskimo Man trucks drive around Batavia, St. Charles, North Aurora and Aurora, but do not go to communities farther away such as Campton Hills and Elburn.

"They are so far away with the gas prices being what they are," Anderson said.

And the ice cream truck business faces other challenges. Some communities such as Geneva ban ice cream trucks for safety reasons.

"We didn't want kids running out in the street and getting hit by cars," said Geneva building commissioner Chuck Lencioni.

Geneva bans all street vendors, he said. Lencioni said the ban has been in place since he started with the city 24 years ago.

Times have changed in Geneva in the last 50 years. Lencioni grew up in Geneva.

"We used to have guys on the street that sharpened knives," Lencioni said.

There are safety arms on Eskimo Man trucks that swing out when the truck is stopped.

"They are yellow and say 'slow for children,' " Anderson said.

The ice cream truck drivers also drive between two to four miles an hour through neighborhoods, he said.

"If they go too fast, they are not going to get any business anyway," Anderson said.

St. Charles resident Patti Puklin treated her young children, Ethan and Emma, to ice cream after they heard the Eskimo Man truck coming down the street.

"That's the first one I have seen in the neighborhood this year," Patti Puklin said.

"It was a special treat for right now."

Eskimo Man trucks sell exclusively Blue Bunny ice cream products.

Down the street, Kaiya Barker, 8, was biting into a cookies 'n' cream drumstick.

"It's my favorite," she said.

And one can still buy a popsicle for 50 cents.

"We try to keep them low so we have repeat customers," Anderson said.

Black is hoping the summer will start to heat up in terms of sales.

"I'm hoping it will pick up in the next month," he said.