May 12, 2026, 12:33 p.m. ET
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Jeff Bezos likes this ice cream so much, he had a machine installed in its home. Now it’s coming to Indiana stores.
CVT Soft Serve ice cream pouches are going into CVS locations.
CVT stands for the initial flavors – chocolate, vanilla and twist. Two flavors, strawberry and coffee, were recently introduced at Sprouts stores. Consumers twist the cap and squeeze the six-ounce pouch to enjoy. No spoons needed.
Before moving into CVS freezers, Hoosiers in Indiana could only try the treat at concession stands at entertainment and sporting venues or order through DoorDash.
Founder Joe Nicchi started a business as an ice cream truck in Los Angeles in 2014, then began catering for TV and movie film sets.
“Any celebrity you could think of in Hollywood, I’ve catered for them,” Nicchi said. “It just got really popular to the point that people wanted our ice cream not just on the trucks but at other places.”
Clients spend $15,000 for ice cream access
Nicchi began wholesaling jugs of soft serve mix to colleges and restaurants before installing ice cream dispensers in the homes of some wealthy fans. Jeff Bezos was the first to have a home installation.
Other bigwig clients, such as movie producer Joel Silver (“Lethal Weapon,” “The Matrix”) followed after Nicchi shared on social media that Bezos has CVT Soft Serve on tap.
“That was a crazy viral moment on the internet. I had this lightbulb moment of how can I get soft serve to everyone that can’t afford a $15,000 ice cream machine in their kitchen?” he said. “So I got food scientists, patent attorneys. Two years of my life.”
Nicci, whose wife was pregnant at the time, used empty breast milk storage bags filled with ice cream as prototype samples on the truck.
“We figured out how to do it, and it came out just as creamy as if it came out of a machine.”
He launched the pouches in about 27 Los Angeles-area stores in 2023.
“We thought we were going to do about maybe 20 to 50 local stores in L.A., and then Kroger West Coast quickly heard about us; Central Markets in Texas; Wegmans in the Northeast, and then Live Nation came in and made us the official ice cream,” he said.
The pouches are now available in about 6,000 stores, including Kroger’s Mariano’s in the Chicago area, HEB’s upscale Central Market in Texas and Sprouts Farmers Market nationwide.
Through a deal with Live Nation in 2024, the pouches are sold at Ruoff Music Center and about 40 other amphitheaters. CVT began sales at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year.
The pouches are next headed movie theaters, the owner said.
The suggested retail price for stores is $4.99.
Contact reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com:@cherylvjackson or Bluesky:@cherylvjackson.bsky.social.
