Consumer Trends

Ice Cream: The hot way to cool off this summer

An impressive 82% of Americans plan to enjoy ice cream this July as the industry celebrates National Ice Cream month. This figure came out of an independent survey commissioned by Baskin-Robbins, the world’s largest ice cream chain. Here’s what else was revealed about consumers’ ice cream eating habits:

  • 77% of survey respondents eat ice cream at least once a month, while 42% said they indulge at least once a week and 5% claimed a daily ice cream fix
  • Many ice cream fans don’t mind mixing pleasure with pain; more than 50% would suffer through a “brain freeze” to enjoy a scoop or two
  • Cone or cup? 70% of respondents prefer to eat ice cream in a cup rather than on a cone. Maybe it’s those sticky drips on hands?
  • More than 60% of Americans prefer hard scoop ice cream to soft serve
  • Classic flavors come out on top. Vanilla and chocolate are tied for first place, while the runners-up are Cookies n’ Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip. The winning ice cream topping is hot fudge
  • Kids and ice cream are a messy combination—25% of those surveyed claim that their children are covered in ice cream after enjoying a cone or cup. Operators should be sure to have plenty of napkins on hand!

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Why are so many restaurant chains filing for bankruptcy?

The Bottom Line: A combination of rising costs and weakening sales, and more expensive debt, has caused real problems for restaurant chains. But the industry is also really difficult.

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Trending

More from our partners