Food and Drink
Creamy cravings
by Vivian Li
From a rocket-like van parked at a Tsuen Wan soccer pitch on the New Year¡¦s Eve more than 35 years ago, Mister Softee¡¦s business blased off.
Within the first two hours of operation, 1,000 ice creams were snapped up, and that earned Ho-King-yuen, one of the founders of Mister Softee in Hong Kong, a satisfying HK$500 and a promising business outlook.
Ho said in an interview that he could still recall how the soft ice cream crispy cones, which were sold at 50 HK cents each at the time, began to capture fans and how his ice cream and its jingle ¡§Blue Danube¡¨ had provided a sweet memory for many Hong Kong people over the years.
The ice cream man¡¦s story began with a trip to London in 1969, with his friend Ted Drew, who later became his business partner. Ho, who was also working in the ice cream industry at the time, was amazed to find many children happily eating ice creams around Mister Softee vans parked in the British alleyways.
The picture could not get off his mind for some time. He finally decided to register Mister Softee¡¦s name in Hong Kong. Mister Softee was originated from the United States in the 1950s.
Ho¡¦s ice cream business kicked off smoothly with the help of two other partners, Drew and another friend Tong Hok-yuan.
¡§I worked in the Dairy Farm Group with Mr Drew. We have always known that ice cream is a profitable business. That¡¦s why we planned to start one ourselves,¡¨ Ho said.
Ho said their first rocket-like van was very different from the present trucks, which he bought after finding the original design too large.
He also recounted that the original theme song of Mister Softee in Hong Kong was not ¡§Blue Danube¡¨, but ¡§Orange and Lemon¡¨ which he had chosen from among the songs available when he bought the first van. He thought ¡§Orange and Lemon¡¨ made people associate it with ice cream.
But he later decided to use ¡§Blue Danube¡¨, a song that he knew well. The jingle has become an inseparable trademark of the soft vanilla ice cream since then and helps customers find their way to a Mister Softee van.
After the first day of fast and promising returns, Ho and his business partners decided to import more vans into Hong Kong.
Today, a fleet of 14 Mister Softee vans sell ice cream in different parts of Hong Kong, with each soft ice cream cone at the price of HK$6, which is relatively higher than the ice cream sold by its competitors like McDonald¡¦s, 7-Eleven, and Circle K.
