Mr. Softee in China

Growing up in New York, one of my fondest memories have to be running outside my house, waiting for the Mr. Softee truck to drive by during those hot summer evenings after hearing the faint tune of “Pop goes the Weasel” get louder and louder as the truck comes closer. Carrying everything from Tweety-shaped popsicles to Flintstone Push-Up Pops, Mr. Softee was like a dentist’s worst nightmare, but a children’s favorite fantasy. Although Mr. Softee use to be just a New York staple, they have begun expanding their business internationally. For a while, there was a franchise of Mr. Softee in the U.K. but after poor management, it eventually fell apart. Now Mr. Softee has set their sights on a much farther, interesting locale.

Striking a deal with China, Mr. Softee has now extend to Suzhou, China, a city 50 miles from Shanghai; so now children there are able to experience a memory similar to mine. But of course like most companies that branch out internationally, Mr. Softee has tweaked their look and their menu to accommodate their new target audience. Like McDonald’s cater to the Chinese with specialties such as Rice Bugers—where the two slices of bread are replaced with two patties of rice—Mr. Softee offers something called a red bean blast—which is rice-cake flavored ice cream topped with red beds and whipped cream—along with other Chinese staples such as milk teas. They still offer the classic milk shakes, ice cream cones, and sundaes one can find on any American Mr. Softee truck but they found catering to the Chinese’s specific taste palette has been a huge success.

Although many have argued that this constant exportation of American culture into other nations is a negative thing, I can’t help but to disagree. Before Mr. Softee, McDonald’s, and KFC, most Chinese have never had soft ice cream because no one other than these American fast food franchises sells them. And the same goes for Germans. Many Germans had no idea what a cupcake was—some saw them and thought they were candles—until American bakers (and apparently McDonalds now) brought them into Germany. Cupcakes and ice cream are things that bring joy (and obesity too) to many Americans and I can’t imagine not sharing this great childhood memory with others. And besides food, there are plenty of things that America has that should be shared and vice versa. As long as we develop a equilibrium in importing and exporting culture, leanrning about others can never be a bad thing. Besides, I think America is slowly importing culture as well. Stores such as Top Shop, Uniqlo, and Desigual are all slowly taking over the shopping scene in Soho so we are obviously making progress in the importation of other cultures.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/nyregion/15softee.html?pagewanted=2&hpw