Ice Cream Consumption: On Fire?

Is it a trend connected to the summer heat wave? A general desire to stoke indulgence and alleviate stress? The love of frozen treats? All of the above?

Whatever the theory, there’s been a significant increase in U.S. ice cream consumption this year, according to the Favorite Ice Cream Flavors Index, a study on consumer preferences and trends in America conducted by financial firm Scholaroo, San Francisco.

In June 2023, ice cream consumption surpassed the total purchases for like-period 2022 by 9.8%. The most popular flavors in America ranked in order of popularity in 2023 include chocolate (favorite flavor in 23 states, including Florida, New York and Illinois); rocky road (favorite flavor in 17 states, including California, Nevada and Texas); and Neapolitan (favorite flavor in three states, including Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming).

Click forward to view several new ice cream arrivals in the grocery channel since late spring.

Blue Bunny’s Soft Scoopables (Wells Enterprises Inc.) represent a take on soft-serve ice cream. The variety is regarded as easy to scoop straight from the freezer, the supplier said. Blue Bunny also offers Stuffed Puffs (Birthday Cake, Classic S’mores, more), Twist Cones and Mini Bars.

Blue Bunny also rolled out Blue Bunny Stuffed Puffs Scoopables (SRP of $4.48), which combine the brand’s signature frozen dairy dessert with Stuffed Puffs’ Filled Marshmallow experiences in three flavors of S’mores, Cookies ‘N Creme and Birthday Cake. The co-brand collaboration is also extending to include ice cream sandwiches (SRP of $4.98).

M&M’s Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches (Mars Inc.) offer a multi-texture experience that combines M&M’s-branded chocolate candies, baked chocolate cookies and cookie pieces with ice cream. A fun treat often only found in ice cream parlors can now be enjoyed at home in singles and packs of four (3.5 ounces per bar).

Dove Mini Sticks Vanilla Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate and Almonds (Mars Inc.) come 1.85 ounces per bar.

Häagen-Dazs debuted a collection of new plant-based frozen desserts designed for flexitarians looking to add additional plants to their diet, the supplier said. The oat-based, vegan-certified Plant-Based Collection features three flavors: Plant-Based Chocolate Peanut Butter, Plant-Based Vanilla Raspberry Truffle and Plant-Based Caramel Fudge Chip.

Halo Top (Wells Enterprises Inc.) unveiled new desserts in a Chocolate Ice Cream Cake pint and Fruit Pops variety pack. Chocolate Ice Cream Cake (SRP of $4.99) consists of white icing, chocolate ice cream, 18 grams of protein and is lower-calorie, lower-sugar. Variety packs of fruit pops include both Strawberry; Mango & Pineapple; and Strawberry, Lime & Raspberry—the brand’s first-ever fruit pop variety pack, which contains 12 pops made with real fruit at 30 calories a pop (SRP of $5.99).

GoodPop offers a selection of frozen treats, including its newest items Fudge n’ Vanilla Crunch, Mint n’ Fudge Chip and Double Chocolate Fudge. The brand also offers existing classics such as Cherry n’ Lemonade (Red, White and Blue); Orange Cherry Grape, Orange n’ Cream and Chocolate Vanilla Sandwiches.