An artisan Yorkshire ice cream maker has invested over £20,000 into refurbishing a French charcuterie van from the 1960s as a mobile ice cream trailer.
Yummy Yorkshire Ice Cream, based on the outskirts of Huddersfield, worked with Evo Composites who specialise in the build of ice cream vans and vehicle conversion to authentically renovate the former French butcher’s trailer.
The van, which is nearly half a century old, will be taken on the road to food festivals, galas and private functions around the region. It has been modernised for Yummy Yorkshire’s needs, but its original retro features have been retained where possible.
As well as a scooping cabinet displaying seven different ice cream flavours, a serving hatch and additional fridges have been added to allow Yummy Yorkshire to cater for differing needs, serving not only ice cream but a variety of hot drinks, luxury milkshakes and snacks.
The trailer started life as a Citroen HY van and was first converted into a ‘véhicule de boucherie’ in 1967 by a French company, R.Masson & Fila S.A. The trailer was then purchased by Bolsover based Evo Composites in February 2012 who saw the potential in removing the driver’s cab and reviving the back end as a trailer, as did Yummy Yorkshire when they first saw the vehicle last year.
Jeremy Holmes, co-founder of Yummy Yorkshire says: “We saw the shell of the trailer as soon as we arrived at Evo Composites and immediately fell in love with it. We loved the drama of the lever handled opening and how wide the serving space was.
“Yummy Yorkshire ice cream is a very visual brand and we wanted the trailer to be representative of that and showcase our ice cream in the best possible way. Keeping as many of the original features such as the display counter and door handles was therefore really important to us. We are delighted with what Will and his team at Evo have achieved ““ the trailer represents our brand perfectly while remaining true to the original design.
“The multi-tasking facilities in the trailer mean that we can cater to people’s requirements now whatever the weather ““ sadly it’s not always warm enough for ice cream and we have noticed that in colder weather, people would rather have a tea or a coffee. We’re set up to cater for both now!”
The Yummy Yorkshire ice cream trailer made its first official public outing at the Malton Food Festival in May and is next due to appear at the Taste of Yorkshire Food Festival in Ripon on June 8.