SOFT-SERVE SCOOP
Shelton ice cream truck crafts custom soft-serve
Every day is Sundae at Shelton’s new stop for unique ice cream. The Sundae Funday bus, an ice cream mobile, recently opened at its main location at 484 Bridgeport Avenue, serving up custom soft-serve blends with a variety of decadent toppings and sauces.
The new sweet shop comes from husband and wife Mike and Chelsea Curran, Valley natives with a shared love of ice cream. She grew up in Ansonia and he was raised in Shelton.
“We always joked about opening our own shop one day because we consume so much ice cream,” Chelsea said.
Chelsea is a realtor with a background in digital marketing, and Mike is a first responder. In 2019, they considered opening a storefront, but then opted instead to buy a truck that fall, which offered more mobility. They were “all geared up” to open the following March, she said, and then COVID-19 hit.
But in June, the truck debuted at its Shelton location between Scooter’s Deli and Wendy’s, and has quickly built a following in just a few weeks. The menu features chocolate and vanilla ice cream from Big Dipper in Prospect, which is blended to order with customers’ choice of mix-ins and toppings. Choose your own adventure with mix-ins like cookies, cereals and pretzels and toppings like fruit, candies, coconut and cookie dough bites. Sauces include caramel, marshmallow and peanut butter.
Sundae Funday also offers predesigned blends: a “Fred Flintstone” with vanilla ice cream, Fruity Pebbles cereal and marshmallow; “That’s S’more-ay” with vanilla, graham cracker, chocolate sauce and marshmallow; and the “Puff Daddy,” with chocolate ice cream, Reese’s Puffs cereal and peanut butter sauce. The top-selling blend is the oREO Speedwagon, with vanilla ice cream, Oreos and chocolate sauce, Chelsea said.
Each blend features about 3 1/2 scoops of ice cream, according to Sundae Funday’s menu. Blends are served in cups or freshlymade waffle cones, starting at $6.25. Customers can also order hard scoops of the ice cream, with or without toppings (starting at $3.50.) The truck is cash only, but there’s an ATM on site.
Sundae Funday also offers weekly specials, which the Currans design on “a whim,” Chelsea said. Recent flavors have included a “Cap’n America” for the Fourth of July, with vanilla ice cream, marshmallow and red, white and blue Cap’n Crunch cereal, and Hawaii 5-0, with vanilla, pineapple and coconut. Blueberry pie, with blueberry sauce and graham cracker, and “Cinner,” with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and caramel drizzle, have also made appearances.
Customers have been asking for Nutella and cheesecake blends, Chelsea said, and she plans to offer an apple pie flavor as fall approaches. Sundae Funday also offers freebies to dogs (a cup of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream) and discounts for first responders.
The truck is parked in its Shelton spot Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 9 p.m, and Saturdays from 4 to 10 p.m., weather permitting. This weekend, Sundae Funday will kick off a series of Sunday appearances at BAD SONS Beer Co. through September, from noon to 7 p.m. The Derby brewery has also been serving pies from Roseland Apizza, which now has a satellite location in the taproom.
The response has been “completely overwhelming,” Chelsea said. The Currans haven’t yet accepted any private catering business yet because the public demand has been strong, but she expects to offer it at some point.
“We’re so humbled. Everyone has loved it,” she said. “Our lines have been wrapped around the parking lot. We’re actually talking about whether we need to open a storefront.”