Ice-cream consumption is set to soar over the next few months, as consumers seek respite from the summer heat.
As the countdown to summer begins, the nation’s ‘favourite dessert’ – ice cream, which is synonymous with all things sweet and sunshiny – is repositioning itself as a seasonal essential.
Ice cream has always been an indulgent category, and research over the years has shown that it always comes out on top – as Irish consumers’ go-to dessert of choice.
Ice cream is the tenth-ranked category in grocery in Ireland, according to the Top 100 Categories in the 2022 Checkout Top 100 Brands, in association with NIQ.
Ice cream achieved an all-time-high position in the rankings in 2021, when it moved up to number eight, but last year it dropped by two places.
Magnum leads the category, with Ben & Jerry’s in second place.
Published every August, the Checkout Top 100 Brands is based on branded value sales across the Irish grocery sector, making it the most accurate barometer of the biggest-selling brands in the marketplace.
In compiling the report, NIQ measures the sales performance of over 5,000 brands from over 200 product classes.
Ireland’s Top 5 Ice-Cream Brands
1 Magnum
Magnum is an indulgent Belgian brand of ice cream and the company’s namesake, originally developed and produced by Frisko, in Aarhus, Denmark – a part of the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Magnum products are ‘thoughtfully sourced and crafted’ from the world’s highest-quality ingredients and made with Belgian chocolate. They are available in most countries, on sticks and in tubs and bites.
2 Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s is an American company that manufactures ice-cream, frozen yoghurt and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the company went from a single ice-cream parlour to a multinational brand over the course of a few decades. It was sold in 2000, to multinational conglomerate Unilever, which has more than 400 brands, including Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Knorr soup and Vaseline skin lotion.
3 Cadbury
According to the confectionery giant, John Cadbury (its founder) believed that chocolate could make the world a better place – and so does ice cream! Cadbury – via the nation’s favourite chocolate bars, such as Dairy Milk, Crunchie and Flake – is also available in ice-cream form.
4 Nestlé
The confectionery giant’s most popular ice-cream brands include Smarties. Nestlé’s range of ice-cream products has options for every preference – from all-natural to low-/no-sugar and lactose-free versions. Nestlé Ireland is a subsidiary of Nestlé SA, the world’s leading nutrition, health, and wellness company. Nestlé has over 70 brands across seven categories in the Irish market: beverage, confectionery, cereal, food, pet care, dairy, and infant nutrition.
5 Dale Farm
A dairy success story for over 60 years, Dale Farm is a cooperative owned by 1,300 dairy farmers across Northern Ireland, England and Scotland. This means that every farmer who supplies the company with milk also owns it, so the business supports this generation of dairy farmers, and the next. Dale farm’s ice cream comes in pints, tubs, and sliceable formats.
Read More: Ireland’s Top 5 Milk Products Are Cream Of The Crop
© 2023 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more A-brand news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
