âInfluencers pay double.â
Thatâs the blunt message ice cream truck owner Joe Nicchi has for so-called social media âinfluencersâ propositioning him with promises of online exposure in exchange for free treats.
Nicchi and his wife have been operating two vintage 1960s-era Mister Softee ice cream trucks in the Los Angeles area since 2014, after noticing a gap in the market.
âThere was nothing like it out here,â Nicchi told CTVNews.ca during a telephone interview on Thursday. âItâs a very green juice town and low-fat frozen yogurt and all that so we were looking for something that reminded us of back home.â
Home is upstate New York for Nicchi, whose father operates several restaurants there, serving homemade soft-serve ice cream. Itâs the same recipe Nicchi has been offering West Coast customers since March 2014 when he launched .
Since then, the aspiring actorâs business has taken off earning praise from local food journalists and even winning LA Weeklyâs best food truck in the city in its first year.
That hype is part of the reason, Nicchi suspects, numerous social media influencers, each claiming to have thousands of followers, have approached him since CVT Soft Serve opened.
âTheyâll just walk up and say âHey, my name is blah blah blah on Instagram. Iâm not sure if you know me. I have 60,000 followers. I could put a picture of your ice cream on my story if you want to hook me up,ââ Nicchi said.
The father-of-two said heâs received about one or two inquiries a week from âinfluencersâ interested in copping a free cone.
âIâm like, âAre you out of your mind? This is $4,â he recalled.
Nicchi said he also receives regular emails from people who want him to cater events for free in exchange for âexposureâ online.
âThey love to use the word exposure,â he said. âTheyâll promise me all of this social media exposure in exchange for taking care of them and giving them all free ice cream.â
Whatâs more, Nicchi said the majority of people reaching out to him werenât even real influencers on social media.
âYou can purchase followers. You can purchase likes and comments,â he said. âIâm sure thereâs legit influencers out there, I just havenât come across any in our business.â
âEnough is enoughâ
After consistently turning down their offers for years, Nicchi said he reached a breaking point when he received an invite to cater a 300-person party for free.
âI said âEnough is enough,ââ he recalled.
On Sunday, Nicchi made a sign with the text âInfluencers pay doubleâ and hung it on his ice cream truckâs window as they served customers in Melrose.
âI put it on the truck just so if anyone showed up at the truck and started their whole spiel, I could just point to it or hopefully they would see the sign and not even pitch me their ridiculous idea,â he said.
of the sign on Instagram which was then on Monday. Much to his surprise, the photo of the sign went viral and business at the trucks has doubled.
âThe last two days have been crazy,â he said. âThe irony is not lost on me whatsoever. Iâm basically getting exposure for bashing people that were promising me exposure.â
Nicchi said he thinks he struck a chord with other small business owners who have been unhappy with the increase in âinfluencersâ demanding free services for online shout outs.
âItâs thrilling for my wife and I,â he said. âItâs great for our business to get the name out there, but itâs also exciting that we can expose what theyâve been doing, the influencers.â