By downloading the smartphone app, which will be served up “within a month”, customers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be able to press a button and the ice-cream man will come calling.
Desert Chill, the firm behind the scheme, reckons “the pretty cool and innovative idea” will have the competition licked.
“You can get a pizza delivered to your door, so why not ice cream?” said operations director Nathen Furlong, who founded the business with his brother, Dan, five years ago.
Any ice-cream app request will alert the drivers of the firm’s nine vans. A van will then come jingling into your neighbourhood with your sweet treat within 30 minutes, claims Furlong.
The ice-cream van, bellowing out music as kids give chase, is something of a British tradition.
Furlong revealed Desert Chill vans in the UAE are accompanied by the British classic tune ‘Greensleeves’.
“We like to keep it as old school as possible,” said Furlong, 28, from Essex, England.
But it’s not just the British expats who go wild for the ice-cream van - Furlong says UAE nationals really lap it up too.
Ice cream van man Furlong said: “The Emiratis are big spending customers,” said.
“They can spend Dhs200 a time.
“They love the concept of it - the van, the big tubs, the cones, the music and the jingle.”
The difference between customers here and the traditional ice cream van fans in the UK, says Furlong, is that rather than pocket money and penny sweets, “it’s 12-year-olds with a Dhs100 note!”
“I think the ice cream van idea is so popular because it’s quality ice cream, it’s not like in the stores where it’s melted and re-frozen.
“We actually have families who go and try to find the truck on a family outing,” added Furlong, whose firm charges Dhs11 for traditional favourite the ‘99’ – vanilla ice-cream in a cone, with a Cadbury’s flake in the top.
However, it’s not the first time the brothers have mixed IT with ice-cream – they also provide a service for BBM customers too.
Ice-cream van man Furlong said: “The Emiratis are big-spending customers. They can spend Dhs200 a time.
“They love the concept of it - the van, the big tubs, the cones, the music and the jingle.”
The difference between customers here and the traditional ice-cream van fans in the UK, says Furlong, is that rather than pocket money and penny sweets, “it’s 12-year-olds with a Dhs100 note!”
The firm charges Dhs11 for traditional favourite the 99‚ which is vanilla ice cream in a cone with a Cadbury’s flake in the top. This is not the first time the brothers have mixed IT with ice cream, they also provide a service for BBM customers too.
By Duncan Hare
