Maryellis Bunn, co-founder of Museum of Ice Cream is a maker of sweet memories

Sparking connection through immersive ice cream-themed installations

Museum of Ice Cream

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Forging stronger human connection has been at the core of MOIC’s mission since it started as an immersive pop-up in New York City in 2016, which opened to a lengthy waitlist. Visitors had a field day with the Instagram-friendly interactive installations and quirky ice cream creations. The buzz persisted at its roving stops including Los Angeles, which was attended by celebrities including Beyonce and Kim Kardashian. Today, MOIC has four other locations including Shanghai and Chicago.

Bored by the recreational options for young adults (“It was either going to restaurants or bars.”), Bunn started MOIC with “a hypothesis of creating a space that brings adults together to bring out their childlike selves through fun and play”. 

The hypothesis worked and Bunn and her co-founder, Manish Vora found themselves paving the way for a then-nascent experiential events arena, which has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry.

She recalls: “It was challenging for me to articulate the vision and feeling that MOIC was going to create for visitors, so the best way to do that was to get the product out into the world quickly for people to experience it. This hypothesis became the foundation of a business that we could grow.”
We need to build physical places that are more compelling than what's happening on our screens and devices, such as video games and social media.

A vision to create more meaningful recreational experiences

Museum of Ice Cream

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And it helps that the attraction is themed around ice cream, which is universally loved. She says with a smile: “The ice cream shop always exudes joy and positive energy, people are always happy to wait in line — I wanted to recreate that energy.”

Like every MOIC visitor, Bunn has an ice cream name — Scream. Letting out a rare glimmer of playfulness with her serious demeanour, she shares: “My ice cream has multiple colours and mysterious flavours. The flavour profile wouldn’t match what you see, so people would have to guess.” 

For a business popularised by social media, Bunn says that her biggest competition is, ironically, technology. She says: “We need to build physical places that are more compelling than what's happening on our screens and devices, such as video games and social media.”

Bunn believes that more people are seeking meaningful recreational experiences. She reveals that there are plans to bring MOIC to more countries in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Remaining tight-lipped, she would only say that Figure8 will launch a new concept in the United States later this year that centres on “adult-focused play experiences”, and is looking at bringing new concepts to Singapore.

She reflects: “As we grow older, our imagination truncates. I get inspiration from building a space that makes you question ‘why are things this way?’ and sparks curiosity so that our imagination can continue to flourish.”