Makers of the world-renowned Devon House ice-cream, Scoops Unlimited Limited, has added new locations along with three mobile ice cream vans aimed at expanding its customer base and boosting sales during COVID-19.

Matthew Clarke, director of the company, said that though the new initiatives were severely pushed by the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the company has been in rapid expansion mode since last year.

“The opening of a new store is a process that requires months of planning and prep work prior to the launch, and thus many of our most recent stores were in the final stages of preparation just prior to the pandemic and accompanying Government mandated restrictions.

“We have opened several new retail outlets bringing our total count to seven. Our two most recent openings have been at the Super Value Town Centre on Constant Spring Road and in Tropical Plaza. Both stores have shown strong initial sales and the signs are encouraging,” he said in responding to questions from the Business Observer last week.

Outside of the traditional Devon House flagship and Sovereign North locations in Kingston, the other new stores opened in the last two years include: Victoria Pier in downtown Kingston, MegaMart at Waterloo Road, Millennium Mall in May Pen and another in the Harbour View shopping centre.

Clarke said that the addition of the mobile units was a strategic decision which was made in an effort to keeping their customers served and revenues going.

“The innovation was born out of the early periods of the pandemic when retail operating hours allowed by the Government were extremely restrictive, people were encouraged to stay at home as much as possible, and children were held home from school. Our thought process at the time was that if our customers were not able to come to us as much as they normally would; [so] we would bring the ice cream to them.

“This initiative took two weeks from conception to execution and started with a single retrofitted delivery van. However, due to tremendous response from our customers we have increased the number of Scoops mobile vans to three with more to come in the pipeline,” Clarke further disclosed to the Business Observer.

He explained that, in looking forward, the long term aim of his company is to acquire a more traditional “ice cream truck” that will allow for greater variety of options and products to be made available to customers, including the scooping of ice cream into cones with toppings, as opposed to the pre-packaged products that are currently offered.

He said that so far the mobile units have added to the positive growth of the business, even as the pandemic continues to brings about numerous uncertainties.

“The Scoops mobile vans have been critical in helping our company navigate the uncertain times during the current COVID-19 pandemic and have provided a boost in sales, especially during the period when operations at traditional outlets were severely limited due to restriction of open hours. The Scoops mobile vans also allowed us to retain and re-purpose as much staff as possible when difficult decisions had to be made, such as the temporary closure of our Victoria Pier outlet,” he said while noting that the Victoria Pier has since reopened and has been doing well.

“Due to the size and limited storage capacity of each truck it is unlikely that a Scoops mobile van will be able to outperform any particular store once operating hours are not restricted; however, they certainly carry significantly less overhead costs and are more malleable and flexible, allowing us to better adapt uncertain times ahead,” the director added, noting that with the continued reopening of the economy and relaxation of curfew restrictions they were expecting sales growth to continue.

He said that in pivoting with these new initiatives Scoops is seeking to not only conveniently get products to customers in their homes and neighbourhoods but to also develop a greater network of customers across the island.

“We currently operate mainly in the Kingston and St Andrew area, as well as parts of St Catherine, as these areas are currently closer to our base of operations. However, we do have plans to expand our operations into other parishes and areas as we expand our fleet of Scoops mobile vans,” Clarke told the Business Observer.

He said that with prices remaining the same as in-store, and customer feedback has so far been great, with many clamouring for the continuation of the service even after the pandemic ends.

“The response from our loyal customers has been truly overwhelming. People have supported all of our routes and are demanding even more. We are extremely grateful for all who have supported us thus far, and for those who haven’t tried the ice cream truck yet we would encourage them to give us a try.”

He further told the Business Observer that the company currently provides information of the daily routes of units through daily social media postings, but the company is also in the process of working on another new initiate that will allow customers to track the movements of the mobile units in real time via a Google Maps-type interface.