Australian ice-cream maker licks New York Laura O'Neill is changing the way Americans eat ice cream, writes Ellen Connolly.
Ben Van Leeuwen and Laura O'Neill hit the streets of Manhattan in 2008 with a retro-style ice-cream truck.Photo: Char and Co W hen Australian event producer Laura O'Neill arrived in New York eight years ago, she made an extraordinary career move, starting an ice-cream truck business with her boyfriend, Ben Van Leeuwen, and his brother, Peter.
"Our families and friends thought it was a pretty crazy- sounding idea, but definitely an exciting one," O'Neill, 33, says. 
"There were plenty of soft- serve ice-cream trucks - Mr Whippy style - in New York, but no one was serving anything really special, made with good, whole ingredients."
Melbourne-born O'Neill, who had met American Ben Van Leeuwen during a holiday in London, believed the industry needed re-energising.
The trio initially planned to simply sell pre-made ice-cream from their trucks, but, unable to find products that weren't full of stabilisers, fillers and artificial flavours, they decided to create their own.
"We started experimenting with recipes at home and would invite our friends over to test batches," she says.
They bought hormone-free milk from pasture-fed cows, and premium ingredients from small producers around the world - vanilla beans from Papua New Guinea, pistachios from Sicily, hazelnuts from Piedmont in Italy and chocolate from France.
"Our aim was to make the best possible ice-cream using very few ingredients and serve it from beautiful-looking trucks."
On   June 21, 2008, a day after O'Neill and Van Leeuwen tied the knot, their two pastel- yellow, retro-style trucks hit the streets of Manhattan.
"It was awesome. A little line formed, and people loved it," O'Neill says.
From Soho to Central Park, the trucks quickly became a familiar sight as people queued for a scoop of one of their 10 classic flavours, including pistachio, espresso and ginger, all served in biodegradable bowls.
Although O'Neill's marriage to Ben Van Leeuwen didn't last (they separated in 2011, but remain business partners), eight years on, Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream has become a multimillion-dollar business, with six ice-cream trucks (four in New York and two in Los Angeles) and six stores (five in New York and one in Los Angeles).
Their flagship store opened in Brooklyn's hip Williamsburg neighbourhood in   July 2015, and two more stores will debut in Los Angeles in 2016.
"This past year has seen the most rapid growth," O'Neill says. "The last few years, we have been streamlining and perfecting our operations, and now we feel ready to grow the business to the next level."
Last year, they moved production from a tiny kitchen to a factory, enabling them to continue to create special seasonal flavours, among them goat's cheese with a forest berry swirl, and honey ice-cream with pistachio nougat. The vegan line they introduced last year was an instant hit, even among non- vegans. Flavours include peanut butter chocolate chunk, salted caramel and roasted banana nut.
"We are huge fans of a plant- based diet, and wanted to offer an awesome option for those who are vegan or can't or don't want to eat dairy," O'Neill says.
The company employs about 100 people at the height of summer, and its take-home tubs are sold in 300 supermarkets next to those of ice-cream giants Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs.
In 2015, they also released a cookbook, Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream (HarperCollins).
So what is the secret of their success?
It took a lot of hard work, O'Neill says. "We went into this with a passion for our product, not just a passion for business or making money. We're so happy we've been able to take this little idea and grow it into a sustainable business, employ lots of great people, and serve a product we can be proud of."
Would she like to reach the universal success of Ben and & Jerry's ice-cream?
"Absolutely. Luckily, ice- cream is a product that doesn't have to lose quality as you scale up. As long as we never compromise the quality of our product, our goal is to make it available to as many people as possible."
While there are no immediate plans to take their business to Australia, O'Neill isn't ruling it out. "Our dream is to be the world's best ice-cream company, both through our product and through the company culture we build."