NEWS
Ice cream INSIGHT
With the hospitality sector having suffered considerably due to the response to the pandemic, at the start of a new year it’s important that operators do not now neglect potential revenuegenerators such as ice cream. PRICE PRESSURES Towards the end of last year, organisers of the Ice Cream and Artisan Food Show 2022 (8-10 February 2022, Harrogate) surveyed UK ice cream parlours to ascertain the prices of quality ice creams around the country. East Anglia came out most expensive at £4.50 for two scoops of vanilla ice cream, whereas the Midlands was revealed to be the cheapest at £2.00. In Scotland it was £3.30, Wales £3.20, the South £3.15, the North East £2.98 and in the North west it was found to be £2.50. In the survey, 61% of respondents reported that they had raised their prices in the last 12 months due to increased 14 CAFÉ LIFE | THECAFELIFE.CO.UK
ingredients costs (95%), increased staffing costs (89%), and increased rents (10%). Some parlours had also raised their prices to try and recoup losses sustained during the pandemic (10%), and even many of those who had not yet raised prices were expecting to do so soon, the researchers found. 450 members of the Ice Cream Alliance (ICA), the UK trade association for the ice cream sector, were surveyed in December 2021, and asked for the price of two scoops of vanilla served in a tub, with respondents able to select multiple reasons for their price increases and were surveyed in December 2021. “The last two years have been tough
for the hospitality sector, and ice cream businesses are no exception,” confirms Ice Cream and Artisan Food Show and Ice Cream Alliance CEO, Zelica Carr. “They are now being hit by a variety of increased costs some of which are having to be passed on to consumers, but our Ice Cream and Artisan Food Show this month offers a good place for the industry to regroup and start its recovery.” After the pandemic caused the show to be cancelled last year, the show is coming back bigger and better for 2022, held at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate from 8-10 February 2022. The ICA organises the only UK trade show
