Scoop time!

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/6-7.

Xonsumers are looking for low-sugar, organic and plant-based ice creams. It is almost impossible to determine the volume of domestic consumption, and even the leaders of the Hungarian Confectioners’ Craft Union can’t estimate it.

More and more products to choose from

Adrienn Horváth
marketing manager
Tutti

“TUTTI is a pioneer of classic ice cream mixes in Hungary. One of our missions is to do away with the misconception that powder-based ice creams are less innovative, delicious or healthy than their paste-based competitors”,

underlines marketing manager Adrienn Horváth.

TUTTI’s large product offering serves partners operating scoop and soft ice cream machines with three types of products: stable quality, easy to prepare milk-based, fruit-milk and water-based sorbet-style mixes – all of them quality products with high fruit content.

András Gangel, product developer at m-GEL Hungary:

András Gangel
product developer
m-GEL Hungary

“Our product range includes all the ingredients and additives that ice cream makers could possibly need. There is constant demand for quality products, so we at m-GEL Hungary are working to ensure that we offer the best products on the market. We try to follow market trends, so we have created the Dubai Style variegatos and the Andalusa spicy biscuit variegato and ice cream mix, which quickly became successful”.

Demand for the company’s free-from ice cream bases products keeps growing.

Added value, added time

Norbert Szabados
brand & key account
manager
Fabbri

“We are the exclusive Hungarian representative of several ingredient manufacturers. The best known are Holé plant-based mousse bases for confectioners and the market-leading Hulala product range. With our Fabbri ingredients, we offer high added value solutions for artisan ice cream and dessert makers and confectioners. Our portfolio includes ice cream bases for milk and fruit ice creams, variegatos/layers, pastes, sprinters and toppings”,

says Norbert Szabados, König-Units employee and Fabbri brand and key account manager.

Fabbri offers a large selection of ingredients to meet different nutritional needs: over 600 gluten-free, more than 200 vegan and over 400 lactose-free products. The company also sells variegatos enriched with crunchy elements. Adrienn Horváth adds that in accordance with clean label expectations, there is growing demand for allergen-free and low-sugar sugar powder bases made with very few additives, even if these still account for less than 10% of the market.

Scoop prices are rising, but ice cream still seems to be the most affordable out-of-home gastronomic experience

Special ingredients

Because of the high energy costs, almost every confectionery and ice cream parlour is trying to find a solution to extend the season in a variety of ways, while keeping costs down. Some only operate a soft ice cream machine at the beginning and the end of the season, explains András Gangel. Currently ice cream bases made with fermented fruits and superfood ingredients are successful in m-GEL Hungary’s product selection, e.g. hibiscus combined with lemon. Norbert Szabados adds that in-house flavour development dominates in confectioneries and ice cream parlours. Innovations aren’t necessarily seasonal, but linked to global trends and influenced by European trade fairs and competitions. Fabbri’s new products are defined by the snack craze: they would like the flavours of well-known snacks to appear in ice cream and pastry counters, so their new products this year, the Buono and Lello pastes and variegatos satisfy this demand.