The UK’s wettest summer in 100 years has failed to dampen enthusiasm for ice cream with next year’s Ice Cream Expo looking to break attendance records.
The Ice Cream Expo is the biggest ice cream exhibition in Great Britain and Northern Ireland and attracts companies from across the world looking to take a scoop of the £1bn UK market.
The Ice Cream Expo takes place at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate from Tuesday 19th February to Thursday 21st February 2013 and is organised by The Ice Cream Alliance – the trade association for the ice cream industry.
ICA Chief Executive Officer Zelica Carr said:
Even though we have endured one of the wettest summers in history market research shows that ice cream sales have remained buoyant with the industry still worth more than £1bn a year to the UK economy.
It shows that the public’s love of ice cream continues through rain or shine. There is also no doubt that the continued popularity of ice cream is due to the large number of high quality ice cream makers in the country.
There is no slowdown in interest in the industry with a high demand for space from exhibitors and visitors, not least of which are dairy farmers looking to diversify to earn a bigger yield from their milk.
Certainly anyone who is in the ice cream business or thinking of diversifying into it needs to be at this exhibition.
According to research by Mintel the UK ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt market has grown in value by 19 per cent and is expected to climb to £1.1bn this year.
The exhibition will feature a wide range of suppliers from latest machinery to refrigeration and ingredients.
It will also host The National Ice Cream Competition where ice cream makers from across the UK will vie to be crowned the Britain’s champion ice cream maker.
More information on The Ice Cream Expo and The Ice Cream Alliance can be found at www.ice-cream.org
