I Scream… You Scream… We all Scream… For Ice Cream. Who doesn’t like ice cream? We all scream for ice cream and what is more awesome than getting it delivered to your doorstep?

The Scream Truck idea was created by Eric Murphy, an accomplished entrepreneur and a long-time New Jersey resident currently living in Basking Ridge with his family. Murphy had two successful companies in events space and experiential marketing. His knowledge in these areas influenced his opening of the Scream Truck because it “made [him] realize how powerful experiences are for people and what they remember about a brand,” said Murphy. 

The idea first came to Murphy before COVID-19, at the beginning of 2020. “I have always loved ice cream, ever since I was a kid. I have a daughter who is also a big ice cream fan. My town has an ice cream truck who drives around my neighborhood often but it is very dumpy and has all prepackaged products with lots of chemicals. I began wondering why no one has ever made this a better experience or done the ice cream truck differently,” said Murphy. 

The Scream Truck’s first trip was on Sept. 12 of 2020. While Murphy acknowledges the global concerns over the spread of COVID-19 he said, “COVID-19 accelerated the truck’s growth because everyone was home and there were no parties happening inside. So having a private and exciting experience was a big driver for the truck in the first year.”

One of Murphy’s favorite things about the truck is the personal side and he loves making people happy. According to nj.com, Murphy said, “I think ice cream is such a simple pleasure and I think if you can use that to do good in the community, I feel like that’s a huge win.”

Murphy originally wanted to start the Scream Truck in Basking Ridge but a town ordinance bans soft serve ice cream trucks. He didn’t have time to petition the town so he decided to pursue Westfield. “Westfield was always one of my favorite towns and it is a great family town. It’s the perfect place to launch the truck,” said Murphy. 

“There are two ways to get the Scream Truck. One is to go onto the Scream Truck website and book private events. The other is reserved routes. This makes up about 60 percent of our business. Reserved routes are where registered houses will get a text any time we are going to that neighborhood. Then you can text back if you want the truck to stop at your house,” said Murphy. 

Murphy designed a business model using his background in technology to create software that would efficiently text people and manage requests to stop at their houses. “When I was still in the technology field, my company built a tech platform. From that experience I knew what was possible from a programming standpoint. This platform utilized texting so I started brainstorming and making notes. Soon after, I hired a developer and gave him the overall concept and he created mockups of the concepts. Then he started building,” said Murphy. 

Murphy explains that this software allows the Scream Truck to serve the maximum number of customers in the shortest amount of time. “We never have a problem of not booking enough houses. The way our software works is if one neighborhood only has a few stops, it knows to text a nearby neighborhood to fill the routes. We are able to pretty much fill every route but sometimes the trucks get less than 12 stops if 10 people for example reply yes. In that case, the software wouldn’t text a whole new neighborhood because then the truck would have too many stops,” said Murphy. 

Scream Truck menu has Scream Cones, Build Your Own, Scream Sundaes, Non-Dairy/Vegan, Scream Shakes and All Natural Fruit Pops. According to screamtruck.com, their menu features soft serve ice cream paired with feel good music, gourmet waffle cones, traditional sprinkles, fresh toppings, mix-ins, cereals, La Colombe cold brew and Ghirardelli sauces.

There are a few different options when it comes to private events such as the Scream Social (30 minutes, up to 25 guests, $249), the Scream Soirée (one hour, up to 50 guests, $449), the Scream Special (90 minutes, up to 75 guests, $599) and the Scream Celebration (two hours, up to 100 guests $749). 

The prices for reserved routes are similar to regular ice cream. “I didn’t think it was that expensive compared to other places, plus it delivers the ice cream to you so it is more convenient for the price,” said WHS sophomore Vendela Surgent. 

Scream Truck has five trucks and is now available in many towns including Westfield, Mountainside, Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Cranford, Summit, New Providence, Clark and Berkeley Heights. They hope to expand even more in the future. “Usually trucks will be in neighborhoods based on where the private events are, but we try to get to each neighborhood every 10-12 days,” said Murphy. 

Each truck makes about 12 stops in an hour. In the summer the truck is usually out for about 8 hours so that is about 96 stops per day. In the off season, it’s out for more like 5 hours a day making 60 stops per day. If all five trucks are out they will reach 300 houses in a single day. In the summer, that number increases to 400-500 in a day.

The Scream Truck has about 25 employees, three of which run the business (Eric Murphy, Jason Black and Mia Miller). The other 22 are either full or part time drivers, servers and people who communicate with the customers. There are always two employees per truck. 

“I applied to work at Scream Truck because I was really interested in being a part of a start-up company. I am also interested in business and advertising so getting to work with a start-up company was a great opportunity for me. Plus, it seemed really appealing to serve people ice cream because it makes other people so happy,” said Catherine Angel, part-time employee for Scream Truck. 

The artistic display of the ice cream is a signature piece in its success. “The cones have lots of ice cream and are hand decorated each time.Their cones are dyed different colors and have different flavors as well. I do think the display does make it more enjoyable than just regular ice cream,” said WHS junior Brooke Williams.

Aside from the visual of the ice cream, the aesthetically pleasing appearance of the pink and white truck with LED-custom screens attracts business. “I’ve never gotten it, but I always notice the bright colored truck around town which makes me want to look into it more,” said WHS junior Chloe Samet. 

“The end goal of this truck and concept is to personalize the experience for everyone,” Murphy said to nj.com. “At the end of the day, in a couple years, we’re hoping that when we pull up to someone’s house, it’s playing the music you want to hear, it knows the last five things you’ve ordered and displays them on our LED screens. We’re giving you the whole personalized experience at every single stop.”