Family owned ice cream brand reveals Northern Ireland's quirkiest habits

Northern Ireland’s famous family owned ice cream brand looked at sales of the frozen treat throughout the summer months and the data makes for some pretty interesting reading.

In fact, popular flavour Honeycomb was top of the flavours chart for the first time ever, narrowly beating the traditional number one, Double Cream Vanilla.

And whilst Morelli’s makes over 50 flavours of ice cream, 30 per cent of its sales were from Honeycomb and Double Cream Vanilla.

It seems as a country, we’re choosing tubs to eat our favourite treat from as they accounted for 60 per cent of sales, versus 40 per cent for cones.

Whilst the Sunday drive is alive and well, as the tradition of a family drive on a Sunday has helped it become the most popular day for ice cream sales, with purchases 50 per cent higher on this day than any other day of the week.

Tradition also shines through in the toppings table, with chocolate vermicelli and 100s and 1000s accounting for 50 per cent of toppings sales across the country.

And the North Coast reigns supreme for ice cream as 35 per cent of Morelli’s sales took place in Portrush, Portstewart and Ballycastle.

Mid Ulster was Morelli’s second most popular region for sales, followed by South Down in third place.

The data also revealed that the we appreciate quirky flavours. Earlier this year, Morelli’s launched Pink Prosecco Pop and Kinderelli and the creations feature in the top 15 flavours by sales across Northern Ireland.

Summer 2017 has also seen a growing number of health-conscious ice cream eaters opt for sorbets. Mango and Watermelon sorbet is increasing in popularity and Morelli’s reports that its frozen yoghurt range, made using Clandeboye Yoghurt, had its best summer to date in terms of sales.

Commenting on the ice cream trends, Arnaldo Morelli from Morelli’s said: “We really are a nation of ice cream lovers and our data shows that in some aspects, we’re changing our habits to more modern tastes but in other ways, tradition still shines through.

“New flavours like Pink Prosecco are very popular and tubs have overtaken the sales of cones, but we love the same toppings we did 50 years ago and the traditional Sunday family drive is still going strong. We’re also seeing a real movement towards year-round sales, with the summer peak spreading across the year which is great news for manufacturers and customers alike.”

The sales figures have been released by Morelli’s to celebrate a record year for the company, which has seen it expand into Tesco Ireland and open a new, purpose-built, flagship ice cream parlour in Portrush.

Morelli’s top 10 bestselling favours of summer 2017:

1. Honeycomb

2. Double Cream Vanilla

3. Mint & Chocolate Chip

4. Chocolate

5. Raspberry Ripple

6. Strawberry

7. Blue Bubblegum

8. Belgian Chocolate Chip

9. Sea Salty Caramel

10. Oreo Cookies & Cream

Morelli’s bestselling ice cream toppings of summer 2017:

1. Chocolate Vermecelli

2. 100s & 1000s

3. Mini Marshmallows

4. Belgian Chocolate Curls

5. Oreo pieces