USA, the 1930s
According to Wikipedia, Tom Carvel was one of the first: on the Memorial Day weekend of 1934 his ice cream truck had a flat tyre in Hartsdale (New York), and he sold the softening ice cream from the parking lot. In 1936 he opened his first store there.
In Illinois, J. F. McCullough and his son Alex developed their soft serve recipe in 1938; at the first sales test in Kankakee, more than 1,600 portions sold in two hours. The first Dairy Queen store opened in Joliet in 1940 (according to Wikipedia).
And Margaret Thatcher?
It is often said that the later British prime minister helped invent soft serve when she worked as a chemist at the food company J. Lyons in the late 1940s. Wikipedia calls this a widespread myth: exactly what she did there is unclear.
Japan, 1951
In Japan, NISSEI Co., Ltd. sold the country’s first soft serve in 1951; the company was founded in 1947 (according to ITOCHU). The European Nissei machines are developed and built in the Netherlands.
And today?
Soft serve is a classic around the world, from the lakeside kiosk to the hotel buffet. The technology has moved on: pumps with adjustable air, pasteurisation inside the machine and touchscreens. What has stayed the same: freshly dispensed, it tastes best.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Who invented soft serve?
Pioneers include Tom Carvel (1934) and J. F. McCullough and his son (test in 1938); the first Dairy Queen store opened in 1940 (according to Wikipedia).
Did Margaret Thatcher invent soft serve?
Wikipedia calls this a widespread myth; exactly what role she had at J. Lyons is unclear.
Since when has there been soft serve in Japan?
Since 1951, when Nissei sold the country’s first soft serve (according to ITOCHU).
Sources
We quote makers’ figures with their source. Experience from our kiosk is marked as such.
