Ice cream brands are waiting for the end of the ice age

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/5

“This was so big that consumers were driven towards family-size ice creams”,

reveals Maurizio Ragonese, managing director of Ragonese Kft.

A steep rise in the price of ice cream scoops has steered consumers towards family-sized ice creams

Escaping forward

Ragonese Maurizio
managing director
Ragonese

In price-sensitive periods, one of the options for manufacturers is to switch to smaller product sizes at the same price. Ragonese hasn’t chosen this path: they were forced to increase the price of their flagship product, Gelatiamo Capricci ice cream, but even then the price remained well below HUF 200 per scoop. In difficult times, the company’s motto is “escaping forward”, so they develop new products instead of downsizing. With its Single Zero and Super Zero ice creams, the company has strong positions in the free-from segment, where the consumption drop has been smaller.

Ragonese Kft. is adding the Red Berry Cheesecake flavour to the Super Zero lactose- and added sugar free ice cream range this year. Their Capricci brand will put a Punch Cake flavour on the market.

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Brand communication pays off

The challenges of recent years have resulted in much more conscious consumer behaviour, which is reflected in ice cream sales.

Gábor Bakti
country business
development manager
(Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary)
Froneri

The (brand) name obliges

Discounters account for almost 50% of ice cream sales, while (ultra)premium brands carve out only a very small share of the overall segment, says Anett Monori, brand manager of Maresi Foodbroker Kft.

Anett Monori
brand manager
Maresi Foodbroker

“Häagen-Dazs is the ice cream of ice creams, which obliges us to deliver the best quality milk based ice creams available to shops. Our customers reward us for this, so we have strong positions in the category”,

adds the brand manager.

Häagen-Dazs ice creams are available in several formats (pint, mini-cup, stick), but the brand’s classic format is the pint (a 460ml cup). Last year they launched two new Häagen-Dazs flavours, created in collaboration with the Pierre Hermé macaron house, which will be followed by two more this year: blueberry-vanilla and yuzu-lemon.