Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Ice Cream Man: A Memoir of Hollywood Heartbreak, Hard Passes, and Non-Vegan Deliciousness

Ice Cream Man: A Memoir of Hollywood Heartbreak, Hard Passes, and Non-Vegan Deliciousness

Layden, Joe
Nicchi, Joe

Hardcover

Business GeneralManagement

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN13: 9798902680802
Publisher: Matt Holt Books
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.98
Language: English
The true story of how a failed Hollywood dream, a barely functional ice cream truck, and a series of terrible decisions somehow turned into a national brand--and nearly broke the man behind it

Joe Nicchi came to Los Angeles to be an actor. Ice cream was supposed to be a side hustle. Instead, it became a high-risk, debt-fueled experiment involving burned down trucks, failed inspections, and near fatal mechanical breakdowns. With the growing realization that, as the sole provider for a wife and four young kids, that ice cream thing had to work out. Quitting might have been the smartest move--if he could bring himself to do it.

Told with sharp humor and brutal honesty, Ice Cream Man is a ground-level account of entrepreneurship before the chaos, debt, and doubt get edited out of the story. Joe pulls back the curtain on what it's really like to build a business without a plan: the humiliation of asking for help, the brutal math of food service, Hollywood almosts that go nowhere, and the stubborn, unglamorous choices that keep a dream alive when momentum disappears.

From vintage ice cream trucks and unexpected celebrity run-ins to moments when survival (not growth) was the only goal, this is not a how-to guide or a victory lap. It's a memoir about improvisation, integrity, and learning to persevere when there's no safety net.

Ice Cream Man is for anyone who's chased a dream, taken a risk, and wondered (quietly or out loud) what the hell they were thinking.

Joe's story shows that reinvention rarely comes with a perfect plan--just grit, humility, and the willingness to keep showing up without knowing if it's going to work.

Also in

Business General

View All