In 2016, Andy Newman, a reporter for the New York Times got a tip he didn't believe.

Mr. Safty had been shut out of mis- times got a tip he didn't believe.

Mr. Softy had been shut out of Midtown,

and it seemed completely implausible.

In New York City, Mr. Softy, the chain of ice cream trucks

that sells chocolate and vanilla soft serve is a name brand.

It's also like Kleenex or Scotch tape, the generic name for any truck that sells soft serve.

If you want that kind of ice cream you say, I want a Mr. Softy. How could the actual

Mr. Softy have vanished from the heart of the city? I called the vice president of

the Mr. Softy company and he was, yeah, that's what it is.

This Upstart Company drivers would threaten the Mr. Softy drivers if they came into their territory. The Upstart company was called New York Ice Cream.

So this is a New York Ice Cream guy who was right around the corner from the New York Times

office and he told me from 34th Street to 60th Street,

river to river, that's ours.

You will never see a Mr. Softy truck in Midtown,

and if you do, there will be problems.

If a Mr. Softy guy pulled into a spot that they wanted to be in.

They would summon their fellow New York ice cream guys

who would kind of surround the Mr. Softy truck,

making sure that he could not do any business at all.

Reporting the story, Andy wrote around with a driver in a Mr. Softy truck.

As we were driving down, he would point out like there's the other guys with this

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