Ice-cold treat is a red-hot trend
Sundae best for new generation
It may have been another grim week on Scotland’s High Streets but, according to experts, there is one ray of sunshine – ice-cream parlours are booming.
The House of Fraser was the latest retail giant to announced store closures – including on Edinburgh’s Princes Street – but business analysts say the trade in ice cream is red-hot.
A report by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers indicated that dessert parlours joined coffee shops, nail bars, craft beer bars and book stores in bucking the trend. There was a 20% increase in the number of parlours last year and according to Global Data, the number of ice cream parlours in the UK rose to 645 in 2017.
And Global Data analyst Morgane Richert believes this boom won’t melt away any time soon. She expects the sector’s value will grow at a rate of 2.1% from now until 2022.
Morgane said: “We saw a definite increase in the out-of-home ice cream market in 2017, both in the number of specialist ice cream parlours and their popularity.
“More consumers are visiting parlours and spending more money when there, with nearly 24 million transactions generating £105 million in 2017.”
She added that our ice cream tastes are far from vanilla, with customers wanting to experience more innovative flavours and texture combinations.
“This steady growth could be due to growing consumer trends toward experimentation and ‘healthy indulgence’,” added Morgane. “Consumers are becoming more adventurous and ice cream and gelato are ideal treats to experiment with due to their relatively low prices.
“Ice cream parlours and manufacturers have picked up on this by offering more variety, becoming more innovative with flavours and using locally sourced, natural ingredients, as well as offering a wider range of dairy-free options.”
But, we love our ice cream at home too.
According to Mintel, volume sales in the retail sector rebounded in 2016, following two years of decline caused by an increased media focus on sugary products and underwhelming summer temperatures.
A 2.8% increase pushed the market value to £1.14 billion. Growth continued in 2017 and Mintel expects the market will soon reach £2.9 billion.