Plant-based ice cream stays a distinct segment sector. Manufacturers have suffered on this house too. Swedish oat milk agency Oatly withdraw its dairy-free ice cream tubs within the UK in Might and later launched smooth serve ice cream into UK meals service. However the European sector did get pleasure from 14% gross sales progress in 2020-22, based on the Good Meals Institute. Some 14% of Germans now eat non-dairy ice cream, up from one in ten (9%) in 2019, accordign to Mintel. And there’s proof of customers cross-purchasing each dairy and non-dairy ice cream.
Oats have lengthy been the hero ingredient in plant-based milk alternate options, and now they’ve properly and actually established themselves as a favorite within the ice cream sector, based on new analysis from Mintel GNPD.
Launches together with oats as a base ingredient account for round three in ten (27%) European plant-based ice cream launches between April 2022-March 2023, the information reveal, virtually double (16) the share they accounted for over the identical interval in 2021-22 and triple the share for 2019-20.
The share of European plant-based ice cream launches with oats as an ingredient was virtually double the share of launches with almonds between April 2022 and March 2023. This pattern echoes how oat milk has overtaken almond milk in share of European plant-based milk launches.
Within the UK, younger customers usually tend to affiliate oat milk with sustainable farming than different non-dairy milks, which bodes properly for oat-based ice cream. Producers could also be tempted to capitalise on this angle and exchange different plant-based ice cream of their current merchandise with oat variants, or add an oat milk variant to their present plant-based vary.
Nevertheless, one problem which plant-based ice cream manufacturers face is the style notion. Solely a 3rd (35%) of customers within the UK agree that non-dairy ice cream is simply as satisfying as dairy-based ice cream.
Manufacturers are additionally making an attempt to raise shopper expectations of texture in oat-based ice lotions, which might be mirrored within the rising share of chunky, smooth and crunchy texture claims.
Soyabean is flourishing too
Within the UK, it isn’t simply oats that are flourishing, soyabean is flourishing too. In 2022-23 over 1 / 4 (26%) of UK ice cream launches featured soyabean, simply behind oats which accounted for round a 3rd (32%) of all launches.
Ophélie Buchet, Mintel International Meals & Drink Analysts stated: “Oats have lengthy been the hero ingredient in plant-based milk alternate options, assisted by their fame for being comparatively planet-friendly and nutritious.
“Ice cream manufacturers ought to capitalise on the oat milk growth to focus on younger customers by promoting its distinctive style and decrease environmental footprint.”
“Nevertheless, environmental credentials alone won’t safe success for plant-based components. They need to additionally ship on style, value and usefulness, which far outweigh sustainability in customers’ foods and drinks selections. That is seen for instance within the fortunes of assorted plant milks.
“Past oats – whereas an approachable flavour profile and product innovation making certain dairy-like usability have propelled fast progress for oat milk, many others like hemp and pea milk have struggled to achieve traction regardless of their sturdy inexperienced proposition.”
