Robin Wasicuna hopes that the ring of a bicycle bell on a hot day this summer will herald the arrival of the ice cream bike vendor.
And he plans to be the man behind the cool action, from acquiring the bike to making his own cold treats and to riding around town selling them.
The professional chef and former owner of the shuttered Twin Pine Diner in Yellowknife has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for his bike project.
SEE HERE: I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream!
“Since I was a young man, I’ve been fascinated by those bikes and wanted to have a job doing that,” Wasicuna said. “The plan is to sell your standard frozen treats like Popsicles (and) I would also put an emphasis on homemade ice cream sandwiches with different flavours, and cookies.”
His chocolate mint sandwich recipe will include two chocolate cookies with chocolate ice cream in the middle, then dripped in a dukka – a Middle Eastern mix of seeds and herbs.
He’ll also offer non-dairy ice cream made of roasted pineapple and coconut milk.
The bike he has in mind will have a larger freezer box at the front supported by two wheels and one wheel on the back.
He hopes to buy the ice cream bike from Icicle Tricycles, a Canadian company that specializes in building vending bikes, ice cream bikes and even cold brew coffee bikes. Owner Ryan Hashagen, who is in Victoria, opened the company in Whitehorse in 1999.
“I want to keep it Canadian, if I can,” Wasicuna said. “If that doesn’t go through, I’m looking to have someone local build it for me. There are a few people around who I’ve thought of. I would have to get some quotes and figure that out,”
His GoFundMe goal is $4,500. The campaign has attracted $505 in donations as of Wednesday morning.
Wasicuna estimates the largest expense would be the bike itself and the shipping costs from the south. Other costs would include start up and licensing fees.
Hashagen said a base model of ice cream bike starts around $3,200.
If anything is left over after those expenses, Wasicuna wants to rent a commercial kitchen with freezers and buy equipment to make the ice cream. For now, he makes ice cream at home with a Kitchenaid mixer.
Even though Wasicuna has decades of experience in the restaurant industry, he feels the current climate isn’t too chilly to try something new, within certain constraints.
“It’s kind of a little courageous and stupid to try and open a restaurant right now. This just seems like a pretty easy way to put myself back out there again. It’s a chance for me to do what I love but on a much smaller scale.”
If his funding drive goes well, he’d like to begin making his sweet and cool rounds of Yellowknife by June.
Wasicuna also envisions wheeling the bike to private events, like weddings.
“(Ice cream bikes) are one of those nostalgic things for my generation,” he said. “Hearing the bells and seeing the bike riding around, I just think it’ll put a smile on peoples’ faces when we really need it the most.”
