When we last caught up with well-known South Jersey resident and classic entrepreneur, Brian McDowell, he was excitedly talking about his new project.  It was a labor of love and that involved an American classic that he was bringing to Cape May Courthouse in a unique way.

In 1956, brothers James and William Conway began a company in Philadelphia they called Mr. Softee.  The idea was unique, bring soft ice cream and novelties to the streets using trucks.

While the idea of the ice cream truck wasn't new, Good Humor had already been doing that, making soft serve ice cream was never done until Mr. Softee hit the streets.  The concept was a huge success. Mr. Softee operates out of a location in Runnemede, New Jersey.  They quickly became one of the largest franchisors of ice cream trucks.  At one point, there were over 600 Mr. Softee Ice Cream trucks scattered across 18 states.

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Brian McDowell
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Today, you can still hear the distinctive Mr. Softee jingle as the truck approaches some neighborhoods, but who wants to wait for the truck?  And some of us still need our Mr. Softee fix in the winter.  Enter Philadelphia's, Brian McDowell.

Brian shared memories of his days growing up and remembering the reaction of all the kids in the neighborhood when the Mr. Softee truck approached.  He compared it to the old Eddie Murphy bit.  The kids swarmed as the truck approached.

Since those days, Brian has moved to South Jersey, and it was there while watching the Ray Kroc movie, The Founder, that an idea was born.  Brian came away from that movie inspired to create his own empire.  He wanted to do something that hasn't been done, and he wanted it to be big.

After doing his research, he came to realize that there were few plays to get ice in Cape May.  He loved the Mr. Softee brand, but there were only a few brick-and-mortar locations anywhere, and none have been built from the ground up...until now.

Brian is celebrating the grand opening of the very first Mr. Softee location built from scratch.  It's now open at 102 South Main Street, Cape May Cout House.

Brian McDowell
Brian McDowell
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Mr. Softee has all the favorites they served on the trucks, including the Softee Storm, which is a soft ice cream with your choice of toppings mixed in, popular Softee Sundays, and they'll even have Dole Whip, which is a non-dairy, non-lactose ice cream alternative.  Brian says, "the Dole Whip is an incredible product.  It comes in strawberry, pineapple, and a twist that will blow you away."  

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Brian McDowell
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Additionally, Brian said he has all kinds of cool (pun intended) merchandise you can purchase. They are open for the grand opening at 1 today (Friday 1/27) and will have regular hours of 11a-9p beginning Saturday.

MisterSoftee.com

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