I t seems last weekend’s record- breaking temperatures didn’t have local residents screaming for ice cream.
Some area ice cream shop owners said sales have cooled off during the brutal heat wave that saw temperatures rise to triple digits around Middlesex County.
Mike Patterson, owner of What’s the Scoop? in Metuchen, said the daytime heat slowed sales at his shop.
“Business really drops off when it gets that hot because people don’t even want to come out of the air conditioning,” Patterson said.
While What’s the Scoop? on Main Street is a destination spot for some local residents, Patterson said most business comes from pedestrian traffic. So when the thermometer rises and more people stay indoors, Patterson said, his ice cream sales slow down.
“The past three, four days … it was much quieter [than normal],” he said.
But once the sun went down and the temperatures started dropping, Patterson said, business started picking up.
“Once it starts cooling off, people come out,” Patterson said. “Overall, the number is down for the day but for that timeframe, from 8 to 11, it is just a non-stop line.”
Patterson, who has been running the store for 10 years, said he has a “magic number” for optimal ice cream sales: 80 degrees. “If it is 80 degrees out and it’s comfortable, people are walking around town, doing other things, we are busy,” he said. “But overall it has been off a little for the past week.”
Joan Trent, who owns the Milltown Ice Cream Depot, agrees.
“I like 80-85 degrees, no humidity, those are perfect days,” said Trent, who has owned the store for 16 years. “You call me on a day like that, I still have a line back out to the parking lot. But there were no lines this weekend.”
With temperatures on Friday and Saturday reaching over 101 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, Trent said most people would rather spend time indoors or in their pools than go out for ice cream.
As such, business at the Washington Avenue shop was down by at least a third on Friday and Saturday night, Trent said. And during the day, she said, business was down by more than 50 percent.
“It’s even too hot for ice cream,” she said. “The ice cream melts before it’s out the window.”
However, Rita’s Italian Ice on Route 516 in Old Bridge saw business heat up over the weekend, according to manager Tara Barry.
“It’s been picking up in the heat when it’s the hottest out,” Barry said.
Alot of people have been ordering fruit-flavored ices in the summer heat, she said. The Rita’s Misto, a drink that blends Italian ice and custard, has been a hot seller. “It’s really cold and really good on a hot day,” Barry said.
With all the recent rain hurting sales in the early part of the summer, Barry said she doesn’t mind working through a bout of brutal heat.
“We like the heat,” she said. “It’s air conditioned in here, so it doesn’t bother us. We just get busier, if anything, and that’s not a problem ever.”
And while many residents may have stayed indoors, for the Singh family from Monroe, soft-serve ice cream and milkshakes at Magnifico’s onRoute 18 in East Brunswick proved the best way to stay cool and have fun on a sweltering summer Sunday.
“All yummy,” said Ambica Singh, who came to Magnifico’s with her husband, Harvinder, and kids.
The family was deciding between a day at the beach or a stop at the ice cream shop. Expecting huge crowds at the beach, Singh said the ice cream won.
“Ice cream always seems to make everything better,” Singh said.