The Fight to Control Big Gay Ice Cream, Which Made the Rainbow Its Brand
nytimes.comIt was all rainbows and unicorns for a while. But like many fun ideas, Big Gay Ice Cream has wound up in debt and in court. With a rollicking rise that leveraged queer identity as a brand strategy, the New York City-based soft-serve chain opened seven shops in the Northeast and landed its products in supermarkets nationwide.
The company now is down to just one location. On Friday, a founder and partner, Doug Quint, filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court accusing another partner, Jon Chapski, of mismanaging the company and fraudulently collecting government loans during the pandemic.
On Tuesday afternoon, through a spokesperson, Mr. Chapski said only that he was reviewing the lawsuit with his lawyer and would respond “when appropriate.” In 2009, when the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck first rolled into the annual Brooklyn Pride parade, it caught a wave of pop culture that included hits like “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and “Orange Is the New Black,” and marked a national shift that culminated in the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples across the country in 2015.
The company’s first shops exploded in Greenwich Village in a burst of rainbow sprinkles. Locals and tourists alike thrilled to the cheeky branding (Barbie dolls, glitter, “Golden Girls” references) and made pilgrimages for Bea Arthur swirls and Monday Sundaes.
