Niskayuna native Joe Nicchi — who moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting — made it to the Oscars earlier this year, but it wasn’t his acting chops that got him there. It was his ice cream.
“I met every actor, director, writer and now I’m at the Oscars because of ice cream,” marveled Nicchi, who co-founded CVT Soft Serve, offering West Coast customers the East Coast-style ice cream he loved growing up.
After a decade of serving celebrities and plenty of regular joes, Nicchi catered for the Oscars last month, bringing the latest CVT creation: soft-serve pouches. Called CVT2Go, the pocket-sized pouches have brought soft serve to the freezer aisle.
They’ll be available in the Capital Region starting last week at the Niskayuna Co-op, the first grocery store in the area to carry the product.
“It’s just a surreal moment that we’re selling there,” Nicchi said.
He grew up on Valencia Road in Niskayuna and frequented the Co-op with his brother Tommy Nicchi, who owns The Broken Inn restaurant and bar.
“We were diehard baseball card collectors. So we used to walk there and buy baseball cards,” Nicchi said.
The family — including his restaurateur father, Tom Nicchi, who owns The State Room in Albany — later moved to Burnt Hills. Nicchi graduated from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School in 1998 and attended the University of Southern California, where he studied theater.
After working a variety of jobs in Los Angeles, he and his wife Tyler founded CVT in 2014 in part because he missed the rich, creamy summertime treat he remembered getting at Jumpin’ Jack’s and Guptill’s.
Joe Nicchi with one of CVT’s trucks.
“This is frozen yogurt, health-conscious central. It’s a green juice town,” Nicchi said of LA. “So I complained about it for years, and I jokingly say we opened out of frustration, but we really did.”
He worked with a local dairy to get the recipe just right and started selling it out of a vintage ice cream truck that he’d rehabbed. Within the first few months of selling around LA, CVT — which stands for chocolate, vanilla, twist — had a celebrity following.
“It just went absolutely gangbusters,” Nicchi said.
He hosted an impromptu Bill Murray ice cream social and the famed actor showed up.
“It went crazy viral,” Nicchi said. “It was the best. So I can say, in all honesty, that Bill Murray put us on the map.”
Along the way, CVT also catered for comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the 2024 Oscars and invited CVT to cater for the event.
“The celebrity following has been incredible for us and they’ve all been very generous in terms of sharing about CVT on their social media,” Nicchi said.
Joe and Tyler Nicchi enjoying CVT2Go with their four kids.
The company also went viral when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought a CVTeeny soft-serve machine, which mimics the look of CVT ice cream trucks. That’s when Nicchi realized he wanted to bring the soft serve to grocery stores.
“This was the moment of like, how can I get our ice cream to everyone that can’t afford a $15,000 soft-serve machine?” Nicchi said.
It took time and some trial and error to get the packaging of CVT2Go just right. The design is similar to baby food pouches, with a twist-off lid.
CVT2Go pouches.
“It’s frozen, you have to wait about five-ish minutes. As it thaws, you squeeze it. It tastes exactly like it’s coming out of the machine,” Nicchi said, adding that there are only seven ingredients, making it “LA-mom friendly.”
It launched last year at major West Coast grocery store chains, including Gleson’s, a gourmet grocer. Nicchi has been working to bring it to the East Coast, including stocking it at Wegmans.
The Niskayuna Co-op will be the first Capital Region grocery store to have it, in part thanks to Tommy Nicchi.
“We have a great working relationship with Tommy at The Broken Inn and he reached out to me a few weeks back to let me know about his brother’s company,” said Shannon Risley, the Co-op’s general manager.
Risley knew it would be a great fit for the Co-op and brought in a limited supply recently, which was quickly scooped up.
“We are just thrilled to have it. I love the story of CVT and how it started,” Risley said. “We are just so excited to be part of the journey and be the first store within his hometown region that is carrying the product.”
She added that there’s nothing like it on their shelves.
“We do have a large variety of ice cream at the Co-op but we have nothing quite like this,” Risley said.
A full shipment of CVT2Go is scheduled to arrive at the Co-op on Tuesday. They’re priced at $5.49 per pouch.
With the pouches, Nicchi is making soft-serve seasonless in upstate.
“Soft-serve ice cream has a season. It’s Memorial Day to Labor Day in the Northeast, but not in LA, and now I figured out a way to make soft-serve season year-round with this product,” Nicchi said.
