A former Long Island pizza truck is helping to fill a void in the Warwick ice cream market.

Petrol station owner Teddy Terceira has opened I Scream, a new cold treat business, on a grassy patch directly west of the Warwick Gas Station on South Road.

“This is a second-hand food truck that we purchased out of New York,” Mr Terceira said. “The gentleman that we bought it from was also able to help supply us and turn it into an ice cream truck.”

The previous owner had used it to sell pizza during the Covid-19 pandemic. With social distancing now long over, he no longer needed it.

“I chose ice cream because it is a universally loved product,” Mr Terceira said.

I Scream manager Bri Santucci said there are not many ice cream options between Warwick and Dockyard. The food truck has the added advantage of abundant parking.

They sell a brand of ice cream called San Bernardo.

“No one in Bermuda has this brand,” Ms Santucci said. “The texture is different.”

The truck also offers sherbets, yogurts, milkshakes, sundaes and ice cream sandwiches, among other things, with some items made upstairs in the petrol station bakery.

“On our first day, everybody from the neighbourhood and all our gas station people came out to support us,” Ms Santucci said. “We had a couple of tourists and a good number of families that came out.”

There were a few technical glitches during their first hours of operation, but they quickly got them sorted.

“Other than that, every day has just been better and busier,” she said.

For Ms Santucci, the biggest challenge was getting all the necessary inspections and permits done.

Since they have been open, their top sellers have been a mix of playful and classic flavours. Italian cheesecake with raspberry and sea salt caramel are Ms Santucci’s personal favourites, while Ms Hall loves the birthday cake ice cream.

“It has got these little pieces of cake in it,” employee Taizh Hall said. “The texture is nice.”

Ms Hall is one of several students staffing the truck for the summer.

“I just finished a year at the Bermuda College,” she said. “I am going to university in Canada in September to study education.”

Working at I Scream is helping her to save a bit of money.

“I am having fun meeting lots of people,” she said.

Mr Terceira’s daughter Lee, 12, is also getting her first taste of the working world by helping out at I Scream.

He views the truck as more than a retail play; it’s also an entry point to the workforce for young Bermudians.

“The big plus has been the staff,” he said. “The truck has become my daughter’s first work experience. It is the same for a couple of other teenagers.”

His goal is to run I Scream as a year-round business, with the possibility of another truck if the model continues to perform.

• I Scream is open Monday to Thursday from 2pm to 9pm, Fridays and Saturdays noon to 10pm, and Sundays noon to 9pm