Here's A Twist: Mister Softee Ocean County Owner Opened Stores Because He Needed Parking

BRICK, NJ — Dan Pittman says he wasn't looking to open a Mister Softee storefront when he opened a brick-and-mortar store in Ocean County in 2019.

"We bought the first store in Beachwood because we needed a place to park," Pittman said Thursday in a phone interview.

It was a long ride from Collingswood in southwestern New Jersey to Ocean and Monmouth counties, where Pittman holds the Mister Softee ice cream truck franchise — more than he really wanted to make with the trucks especially after a long day of driving up and down residential streets.

Four years later, Pittman and his wife, Elizabeth, have four stores including one in Brick that he is hopeful will open by early December or the end of 2023 at the latest, and seven Mister Softee trucks. And Pittman loves it.

"I sell memories," Pittman said. "When people come up to the truck it reminds them of when they were 6 years old."

His foray into the world of Mister Softee ice cream trucks started as a lark. Pittman had been looking for some part-time work when an acquaintance started talking about the friend's Mister Softee trucks while they were shooting pool one day.

"He said he was looking for some help driving his trucks," Pittman said. "I had never thought about it, and I decided I’d show up and give it a try."

After just one day he knew he wanted to do it full time.

"People are happy to see you," said Pittman, a former project manager for a Department of Defense contractor. "You deal with kids all day, and everyone is excited to talk to you."

So in 2016 he bought the Mister Softee franchise for Monmouth and Ocean counties. Mister Softee, which was founded in 1956 by brothers William and James Conway, is a staple in the Philadelphia area and southwestern New Jersey. It was not as well-known at the Jersey Shore, however.

"As a kid I chased the truck all the time," Pittman said. "The driver was really cool, he would throw sprinkles at us and tell us to go away after we bought our ice cream. I just wanted to bring that to people who couldn’t experience that (as kids)."

Soon one truck became three, and Pittman, a U.S. Army veteran, left his defense department job to run the franchise full-time.

"My wife was like, 'Oh my god this is so adorable that my husband has a hobby," Pittman said. It wasn't long afterward that Liz, who also is an Army veteran, left her job to help him run the business.

They took over the former 2 Sisters Ice Cream Stop in Beachwood, and as part of the shop purchase, the former owners offered them something extra.

"They said, 'We have all these recipes from the 1960s, do you want them?' and we said yes," Pittman said. The recipes were for hard ice cream — Mister Softee is known for its vanilla and chocolate soft serve — so Pittman got permission from the Mister Softee corporate offices to sell hard ice cream.

"My wife makes all the ice cream using the Mister Softee ice cream base with the old recipes (for the hard ice cream)," he said. "We thought, hey, if we can make enough money to keep the doors open and pay the rent, we'll keep going."

The first day they opened in December 2019, they had a crowd that wrapped around the store, and Pittman said they knew they had something.

Opening just before the COVID-19 pandemic presented the Pittmans with significant challenges, as it did to many small businesses.

"We barely made it. It took us a while to right the ship," he said.

Pittman takes inspiration from the story of how Mister Softee got its start. The Conway brothers, who sold ice cream machines, were testing one out around St. Patrick's Day and made a cooler full of vanilla ice cream. Rather than letting it go to waste, they dyed it green and sold it for a dime a scoop, he said. They sold out.

"I love their entrepreneurial spirit," Pittman said.

That's why he's excited about the Brick store, at 2524 Hooper Ave. in Red Lion Plaza, where he is planning to offer a coffee bar in addition to selling ice cream.

"So many times parents or grandparents come and bring the kids but don’t get ice cream," Pittman said. "They say, 'I could use a cup of coffee,' and that's what we're going to provide."

The coffee bar will be low-key, with "five or six varieties, nothing crazy," he said, adding he is still working out the details while he waits for permits to be approved by Brick Township.

"We've been getting great responses from the community, so hopefully they love the childhood treat we enjoyed so much growing up in a different part of the country," Pittman said.

There are four stores: the Beachwood location, one in Manahawkin, one on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, and one in Toms River. The Toms River store is being relocated to Brick and will close, Pittman said. He had a location in Forked River, but that was relocated to Seaside Heights.

Pittman and his wife have relocated as well, moving their family — the couple has four daughters — from Collingswood to Ocean County. The older daughters, Jade, 17, and Gianna, 14, help out at the store. They also have 8-year-old twins, Madison and Layla.

"It's a good chance to work with the public," Pittman said, and gives the older girls a chance to learn skills that help them talk to teachers and speak up for themselves. In the summer, they volunteer to help out at the shop rather than sitting around being bored, he said.

Pittman said he will be posting updates about the Brick store on the franchise's Facebook page, Mister Softee of Ocean & Monmouth Counties. The trucks and stores can be booked for special events; email him at njsoftee@gmail.com or called at 856-701-8937 for information.

"You bring happiness to people," he said. "You don’t sit in meetings that don’t concern you, you don’t spend time on emails that have nothing to do with you."

And he loves it.