Ice cream trends

By: Trademagazin editor Date: 2024. 07. 15. 10:55

Our article gives an insight into the domestic ice cream market with the help of manufacturers, retailers and confectioners, and also takes a look at global trends.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/6-7

Universal trends

Ingredients such as fruit, milk, oilseeds and even sugar can be important components of a healthy diet; ice cream is a “minimum” source of vitamins and minerals. Not to mention the fact that fat and sugar helps endorphin production, i.e. reduces stress and improves concentration. There are few products almost everyone loves as much as ice cream. It is the favourite dessert of many consumers.

Globally the quality of products is improving and classic flavours dominate, but new and exciting ice creams are constantly emerging.

The rise of plant-based products is transforming the entire food industry, and ice cream is no exception. Today the vegan versions of classic ice cream flavours are easy to make, with soya, coconut, almond, cashew and oat milks replacing cow’s milk in particular. There is a growing proportion of ice creams made with with healthy additives. Hungary’s best confectioners are also making functional ice creams, and the use of superfoods and extra fibre and protein has become trendy. Oilseeds are a big hit: pistachios, cashews, pecans, whether in paste or chunks, make ice cream special – but not cheap.

There is a global trend of using natural ingredients, so ice creams made with powders and flavourings are being pushed into the background, with an emphasis on real fruit and natural ingredients.

Ice cream is also adapting to world gastronomic macro trends

Domestic suppliers

András Gangel
product developer
m-GEL Hungary

“Our product selection includes all the ingredients and additives that an ice cream maker might need. Consumption doesn’t seem to have been influenced by inflation, but there has been a slight drop in the quantities sold. For a while I thought that consumers would give up ice-cream above HUF 600 per scoop, but I have already seen scoops for HUF 700”,

says András Gangel, product developer at m-GEL Hungary Kft.

Norbert Szabados
brand & key account
manager
Fabbri

“With our ingredients we offer professional knowledge and high added value solutions to artisan ice cream and dessert makers and confectioners. Our portfolio includes ice cream base powders for milk and fruit ice creams, variegates/layers, pastes, sprinkles, toppings and ingredients for modern confectionery. Consumers can now easily distinguish between premium quality ice cream and industrial ice cream, but for many it is more about price”,

says Norbert Szabados, brand and key account manager of Fabbri.

Zoltán Kirschner
managing director
Bocco d’Oro

Zoltán Kirschner, managing director of Bocco d’Oro:

“We offer ice cream in a gastro jar, for those who don’t have the opportunity to make it in their shop or don’t wish to invest the work and energy. We have also entered the market with single-serve ice creams in small jars – these products target restaurants, hotels and other catering establishments”.

Similarities and differences

Enikő Kiss
owner
Vegan Health

“Vegan Health Kft. offers vegan, gluten- and added sugar free ice creams in jars, cross-contamination-free ice cream cups and ice cream sandwiches to Hungarian ice cream makers and confectioners. Ice cream’s price depends on flavours and ingredients. For example a kilogram of 100% chocolate pastilles used to cost net HUF 3,000, but now its price is HUF 8,200. Just because an ice cream is Italian, it isn’t necessarily high quality: many of them are based on ready-made base powders and pastes, full of sugar, glucose and fructose syrups, emulsifiers, flavourings and stabilisers”,

informs the company’s owner Enikő Kiss.

Product innovation is driven by consumer demand and the use of new materials and processes that emerge, such as superfoods. There is a growing demand for ice cream that is healthier or has other added value, i.e. not only delicious, but also healthy.

Pastry chefs don’t make ice cream sandwiches like the ones available in retail shops, but many use a bakery-inspired “carrier”, where the ice cream is put into doughnuts, éclairs and buns

It is now a consumer expectation that an ice cream shop should offer free-from products. A few years ago Fabbri created the Crockolosi and Snackolosi variegato product lines, offering variegatos enriched with typical crunchy elements; many of them are based on chocolate.

Ice cream makers are increasingly using fruit to prepare ice creams – these products tend to be water-based, as water doesn’t take away the flavour of the fruit, so many places offer sorbet. From Bocco d’Oro’s products the big hit has been chia mango with raspberries in the last few years. Modern ice cream is all about creaminess.

Vegan Health Kft.’s view is that ice cream is quite easy to make in a healthy and very tasty way. They exclusively offer gluten-free, vegan and no added sugar ice creams, together with 5 types of ready-made ice cream cups and packaged ice cream sandwiches in 3 flavours, in order to avoid cross-contamination.

Superfoodokat, plusz fehérjéket nálunk is használnak a cukrászok – algát talán még nem

Each scoop matters

Erwin Smart Ice Cream Scoop is an ice cream scoop that uses a portion counter system to record the amount of scoops sold. An electronic device built into the scoop recognises the scoop dispensing movements of the vendor. Data is sent to the owner via the Internet, so they can check the quantity sold and the performance of the staff anytime and anywhere. //

Numbers

We have collected some interesting data on ice cream consumption in Europe.

Belgians are Europe’s top ice cream consumers

In 2022 3.2 billion litres of ice cream was produced in the European Union. Germany was the biggest ice cream maker with 620 million litres, followed by France and Italy with 591 and 571 million litres, respectively. In 2020 ice cream consumption was the biggest in Belgium. According to tasteatlas.com, the best tasting ice creams in Europe are Cornwall’s sour cream ice cream, Dondurma from Kahramanmaraş (Turkey), Wisconsin’s (USA) frozen custard, Italian pistachio ice cream and Italian affogato. //

With the right knowledge and good taste

Krisztián Füredi
pastry chef
Hisztéria Cukrászda

Krisztián Füredi, pastry chef at Hisztéria Confectionery in Tápiószecső and member of the Hungarian team that finished 3rd at this year’s Gelato World Cup answered our magazine’s questions.

Inflation hasn’t primarily affected ice cream’s sales performance, but its production costs – not only because of the price of ingredients, but also due to increased energy and equipment costs. I am convinced that there will always be demand for high quality ice cream, but I expect a 20-30% sales drop in the near future. My experience is that 50-60% of domestic confectioners are now selling quality ice cream. I believe the psychological limit for its consumer price is around HUF 800 per scoop. The top ice cream making trend in recent years has been the discovery of spicy flavours and the layering of flavours, where several textures appear in one ice cream. In a modern confectionery it is a must to offer a variety of free-from ice creams; these usually have a 15-20% share in my ice cream counter. //

Lake Balaton Ice Cream 2024

In mid-May the Lake Balaton Ice Cream competition was held for the 11th time.

The winner was Promenád Café from Balatongyörök, with an ice cream called Balaton Rapture. It is a walnut ice cream made with figs and wine from Balatongyörök. The winner of the competition was selected from more than 20 ice creams from 13 ice cream makers, by a jury consisting of members of the team that finished 3rd in this year’s Gelato World Cup. //

Pure pleasure

About 10 years ago there was an attempt to introduce frozen yogurt – yogurt-based ice cream – to the Hungarian market, but the franchise didn’t succeed. In the US Häagen-Dazs launched a probiotic range called Häagen-Dazs Cultured Crème last year, blurring the boundaries between spoonable yogurts, frozen desserts and ice cream.//