CHICAGO (March 8, 2011 Business Wire)—A love affair with ice cream is perhaps just as American as that most iconic of desserts, apple pie – or even more so given the frequency with which we indulge in the creamy treat. More than half of consumers in a recent Technomic survey said they eat vanilla ice cream at least once a month, and 46 percent said the same of chocolate.
While vanilla and chocolate dominate the ice cream category, there are a multitude of milkshakes, sundaes, frozen yogurts, sorbets, gelatos, and even tofu based non-dairy dessert flavors that each has a special place in the hearts of consumers.
According to Mary Chapman, Director at Technomic, there are several key factors when it comes to frozen desserts on restaurant menus. “Complexity, customization, and portions are all very important. Operators need to differentiate their items from those offered by retailers, and they need to make the offerings available in various sizes to attract diners who are concerned with health, value, or who are simply too full to eat a large dessert.”
Technomic’s new Market Intelligence Report: Ice Creammines Technomic’s exclusive consumer, menu and industry data to uncover insights and opportunities in frozen desserts and snacks.
Interesting report findings include:
- Frozen yogurt concepts occupy the top and bottom of the growth
spectrum. All but one of the ten fastest growing chains were frozen
yogurt concepts, but other frozen yogurt chains experienced some of the
largest declines within the top 500 chains.
- Production of ice cream and frozen novelties in the retail sector is
quite concentrated, with the top ten manufacturers accounting for
almost seventy percent of the total sales.
- Frozen desserts comprised 28.4 percent of all desserts on the menus tracked by Technomic in the first half of 2010.
Technomic’s Market Intelligence Report: Ice Cream includes data from Technomic’s MenuMonitor online trend-tracking resource, which analyzes the menus of 1,200 of the top chains, emerging concepts and leading independent restaurants.
The report also features consumer data culled from Technomic’s Consumer Trend Reports. Retail data and trends examine at-home consumption and point to potential away-from-home opportunities. Rounding out the data are operator examples, including the new products and hot concepts driving ice cream innovation.
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