Uber attempts ice cream delivery from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. In the middle of summer. Hmmm…
Little Man Ice Cream typically sells these kid-sized Salted Oreo, Space Junkie and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream packs for $2.75. You can get them delivered today in Denver at $20 for four.
By 8 a.m. Friday, the ice cream trucks had arrived at Uber Denver’s office off Brighton Boulevard. Soon after, Uber drivers were lining up to pick up large styrofoam coolers packed with dry ice and dozens of kid-size servings of Little Man Ice Cream made within the past 48 hours. The goal: Deliver ice cream to Colorado. In the middle of the summer.
While this isn’t has offered ice cream to Denver Uber users, it’s the first time the company is selling the handmade scoops to users in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
It’s also the first time Uber is delivering Little Man Ice Cream, the gourmet ice cream shop in the Highlands that usually has a line of customers. Three flavors are available: Salted Oreo, Space Junkie and Mint Chocolate Chip. Cost is $20 for four servings.
According to Jordan Stearns, executive chef and kitchen manager at Little Man, she helped scoop nearly 3,000 into the containers for the last two days. Everything was packed up and ready to go Friday morning, as drivers picked up the coolers and headed out.
The 56 Uber drivers who are delivering ice cream today — up from about 25 last year — are on their own in managing orders and delivering to customers. But in downtown Denver, eTuks are delivering.
Can Uber do it? While Denver general manager Will McCollum is upbeat and confident, he says that this is really just for fun and not profit and marketing. Uber is having ice cream day worldwide and it started last night around 5 p.m. MST in New Zealand. Ice cream orders are being accepted today between 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Our fabulous intern Tierra Smith graciously poses with the ice cream and swag in our Uber Denver ice cream day experiment.
We’ve made an order just after 11 a.m. when the service started. There were some hassles in the order process, with several “All ice cream vehicles are busy” notifications. But after that, ice cream arrived in an eTuk within minutes — the driver said this was her third order. Frozen solid and so hard, the plastic spoons Uber provided broke.
Verdict: Yum!
