How the co-founder of Van Leeuwen is making the experience of eating ice cream a little sweeter

Van Leeuwen began driving ice cream trucks as early as 18 years old. During summer, Van Leeuwen would drive old-fashioned ice cream trucks, selling pre-packaged ice cream in various neighbourhoods.

“On those trucks, I would eat a lot of ice cream, especially cookie sandwich bars and cookie sandwiches,” he reminisces. These fond memories further prompted him to build his very own ice cream truck.

Looking back, Van Leeuwen explains how the trio did “almost everything” themselves when they first started. He adds that while there were fights along the way, they had absolute trust in each other. “We’re aligned because we work hard and we care [about the brand],” he adds.

Van Leeuwen never intended to make ice cream when he first started. He explains that he wanted to sell “really good ice cream”—one with high fat, eggs, no stabilisers and the best ingredients. However, the trio quickly realised that this didn’t exist “outside of Michelin-starred restaurants”. Thus, they decided to create their own.

With no prior experience making ice cream, he started out creating ice cream based on a recipe he found in Thomas Keller’s cookbook, Bouchon. It was then he realised that he created something that was “far better than anything I could’ve bought in the store”.

It’s one thing to create ice cream, but quite another to sell it.

Van Leeuwen shares that when they first opened, it was a rollercoaster ride. The first day saw the trio driving around New York for four hours without selling a single cone. They slowly realised that it was important for them to find a good location, allowing people to stop by and get a scoop. The entrepreneur shared how excited he was when he saw his first few customers. “I’ll never forget that day … we were so proud because we worked hard developing the brand and the product,” he says.

From that first day, the brand quickly grew a cult following. By 2010, the Van Leeuwen had three operating trucks around New York City and opened its first brick-and-mortar outpost in Greenpoint, New York. 

Today, the brand is loved for its rich and custard-like French-style ice cream. A selection of flavours is available, ranging from classic ones like pistachio to innovative ones such as the peanut butter brownie honeycomb. The latter is one of Van Leeuwen’s favourites, comprising creamy peanut butter ice cream dotted with chewy brownies and honeycomb. Within the indulgent scoop are sweet swirls of peanut butter. “It’s decadent and over the top, with a lot of different textures,” he adds.

Being in such a competitive market, Van Leeuwen is constantly improving on how he can provide his customers with the best experience. “The most challenging part isn’t coming up with crazy new flavours but how we can make our flavours better,” he explains, sharing an example of how they can make chocolate ice cream even more appealing to customers—whether they prefer a less sweet version, what the current market is like, whether they should use a new recipe and more.

Now that he has opened his first overseas outpost, these questions are more prominent than ever, especially as the Singapore market is different from that of the US. CEO of Caerus Holding—the lifestyle brand which has partnered with Van Leeuwen to open in Singapore—Vijay K Pillai adds that while it is difficult, it’s what “keeps business so interesting”. 

Even today, Van Leeuwen is always dreaming of new ice cream creations. With the brand’s new outpost in Singapore, Van Leeuwen can’t help but explore new flavours. He adds how he would love to create more tea-based flavours, from Jasmine green tea swirled with mango ice to matcha milk tea. With that, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next and whether his creations will transform the ice cream scene in Singapore. 

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