As we enter a New Year, we are all looking at what 2024 will hold for the ice cream industry. And of course, this ultimately means analysing the latest trends and how we can incorporate them into our cabinets over the next 12 months.
Now we’re no stranger to reviewing trends and supporting businesses in adapting their recipes to accommodate them from a technical point of view. We’ve seen and supported it all. From sushi ice cream to pigs in blankets gelato, nostalgic to innovative and ever more exotic flavours, we’re huge believers that there is always a way to make even the most unusual flavours work within a tasty gelato.
This year, however, a trend is emerging that we will all be much more familiar with and that is the soft serve ice cream.
A love of soft serve
When we think of soft serve, we think of the iconic music of the ice cream van when we were children, hurriedly finding spare change and racing outside before it drives off. We also remember the ice cream, dipped in sherbet, smothered in sauce and its chocolate flake stick.
Of course, ice cream vans still make the rounds (even in the colder months), highlighting that there has been and continues to be a strong market for soft serve.
There are many delicious soft serve mixes out there in the market that you will likely already be accustomed to. But more and more we are seeing parlours, gelaterias and dessert houses look to take that extra creative step when it comes to their soft serve offering, by experimenting with their flavours.
The benefits of using soft serve
Showcase your milk
Whether you have your own cows, herd or work with local dairy farmers, you will want to show off your milk and the biproducts of this milk, notably your ice cream. Soft serve is the perfect ice cream to do this, particularly when used to create the iconic (not to mention worldwide most-popular) vanilla ice cream.
A quick and easy way to serve your ice cream
Whilst we all love the scoop of a delicious ice cream, there is no competing with the speed of a soft serve. Once you have your cone under the nozzle and pull the lever of your soft serve machine, you can get a fast, tasty and not forgetting tall ice cream to your customer in seconds. For those offering a single flavour of soft serve, this once again will speed up the process (unless you invest in a soft serve machine with more than one tank).
Ultimately this means that you can serve many more customers in a shorter period of time and therefore boost your sales.
Profits
We have spoken before about the amount of air within an ice cream and the benefits of this. As you would expect, soft serve ice cream has much more air than a traditional gelato and therefore there is more profit in this product.
Milkshakes
If you’re looking to expand your product range then milkshakes are a fantastic way to do so, and soft serve is the ideal ice cream to use – just use a dollop and add some milk, simple.
So how can you do it?
When it comes to soft serve, there are a few options out there to create your mix:
Seek suppliers of mixes
As mentioned earlier there are many great providers of soft serve mixes. These mixes are typically UHT, utilising rehydrated rather than fresh milk alongside vegetable fats; this means that you get a much longer shelf life.
Utilise your existing base
Creating your own soft serve mix using the base of your existing ice cream products can be a highly effective way to introduce this new product. You will already be pasteurising your own mix of milk, cream, sugar and stabilisers. Of course, this is a fantastic way to also showcase that great base product that you’ve been selling.
Keep in mind, however, that if your mix is high in solids or fats, you may need to reduce those by adding more milk.
Ready bag products
We discussed the huge benefits of ready made bags last year and they are still equally as great moving into 2024 to use for your soft serve ice cream. Because they are dry bags that you add liquid to, they have a much longer shelf life before you freeze them down.
Again, we would recommend adding slightly more liquid to these bags than you would to a typical ice cream or gelato to ensure you keep the solids low.
Embrace flavour
Using ready bag products for your soft serve also makes it much easier to add in that all-important flavour. Whilst many of us will be very fond of the classic vanilla, it’s time to upgrade and expand our soft serve experience.
High-end flavours such as pistachio, classics like banana or strawberry and even fun flavours such as bubble-gum will work perfectly in soft serve form and add that unique touch to your product offering.
So, there you have it! Will you be adding artisan soft serve ice cream to your product range in 2024?
If you have any technical questions or would like flavour recommendations for this latest trend, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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