Ice-cream parlours are usually associated with a trip to the seaside but they are coming to a high street near you as a mixture of nostalgia and convenience puts sundaes and posh gelato on the menu all year round.
The number of parlours on high streets in England, Scotland and Wales has soared in the past two years, with the tally rising by more than 200 to 1,015, according to analysts the Local Data Company (LDC).
The charge has been led by independents as local neighbourhoods benefit from more custom after working and shopping patterns were altered by the Covid pandemic.
The LDC analyst Kate Rosser said the trend for “shopping local” meant many people were “actively seeking out neighbourhood ice-cream parlours”. With colourful sundaes well-suited to Instagram, social media and expansive menus had helped make visits less weather dependent, she said.
Katy Alston, who owns Pinks Parlour in Bognor Regis, said the venues were popular because the “experience” could not be replicated in a supermarket or online. They offered customers something “simple but special”. “A scoop of silky smooth ice-cream that is not full of ice chunks, served in a lovely chilled sundae glass.”
Alston, who is also the president of the industry group the Ice-cream Alliance (ICA), traded her ice-cream van for a parlour four years ago after recognising the potential.
“We’re not seasonal any more because not everyone wants to go out for big meal,” she said.
The venues appeal to families, with classic sundaes such as a banana split or knickerbocker glory still among its bestsellers. Alston said: “If you can grab an hour with your teenager that’s really special.”
The current run of hot weather have helped sales soar. “When that big yellow ball comes out … it just goes crazy,” Alston said.
At Caliendo’s Gelato in Kentish Town, north-west London, the co-owner Michelina Caliendo-Sear said her artisan gelato was selling faster than she could make it.
The parlour can lay claim to being the best in the country after winning the ICA’s inaugural competition this year. “We’ve had queues from the moment we’ve opened to the moment we close the door, or sell out,” Caliendo-Sear said.
“We’re a small business that survived Covid but have never really sold out on consecutive days, and since the hot weather we’ve been selling out every day for two weeks.”
Caliendo-Sear reports a “massive trend” for retro flavours such as rum and raisin, raspberry ripple and tutti-frutti. However, with more than 200 recipes on offer, new flavour combinations such as kefir and lingonberry had also hit the spot.
With businesses and consumers struggling with the cost of living crisis, the rate of parlour openings has slowed this year. However, Peter Backman, a restaurant industry consultant, says the rapid rise of the Kaspa’s and Creams chains suggests parlours will continue to increase in popularity.
“Kaspa’s and Creams have each got about 100 outlets, and I could easily see them doubling, tripling or even quadrupling if demand is there,” he said. “I can see ice-cream parlours becoming quite [a big thing] on the high street.”
