Ice cream lovers turn to new flavours

Honeycomb is now the most popular ice cream in Northern Ireland with the public, according to Morelli's, the specialist in Italian-style ice cream. The flavour narrowly pipped the traditional number one, Double Cream Vanilla.

Both flavours accounted for 30 percent of Morelli's overall sales despite the company offering over 50 varieties.

Statistics from Morelli's also revealed tubs of ice cream were more popular than the traditional cones, representing 60 per cent of sales.

Meanwhile, Sunday unsurprisingly proved to be the most popular day of the week for families to enjoy an ice cream with purchases 50 percent higher on this day.

Tradition also shines through in the toppings table, with chocolate vermicelli and 100s & 1000s accounting for 50 percent of toppings sales across Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland's north coast holiday resorts sold most ice cream, 35 percent of Morelli's sales taking place in Portrush, Portstewart and Ballycastle.

The data also indicated that Morelli's new season flavours proved popular with customers. Earlier this year, the company launched Pink Prosecco Pop and Kinderelli and the creations feature in the top 15 flavours by sales across Northern Ireland.

Summer 2017 has also seen a growing number of health-conscious ice cream lovers opt for lower-fat sorbets.

Mango and watermelon sorbet is increasing in popularity and Morelli's reports that its frozen yoghurt range had its best sales to date.

Arnaldo Morelli, commercial director, commenting on the statistics, says: "We really are a nation of ice cream lovers and our data shows that in some aspects, we're changing our habits to more modern tastes but in other ways, tradition still shines through.

"New flavours like Pink Prosecco are very popular and tubs have overtaken the sales of cones, but we love the same toppings we did 50 years ago and the traditional Sunday family drive is still going strong.

"We're also seeing a real movement towards year-round sales, with the summer peak spreading across the year which is great news for manufacturers and customers alike," he adds.