National Ice Cream Day 2022: The Scoop on Inflation

National Ice Cream Day, celebrated the third Sunday in July since 1984, is this Sunday, July 17. Americans eat 23 gallons of ice cream a year, according to National Today. However, hot inflation may be melting ice-cream sales. Unit sales for ice cream were down 4.3% year over year in May, according to Chicago-based IRI.

Says Anne-Marie Roerink, President, 210 Analytics, “Frozen novelties are definitely still an affordable little indulgence. The average per unit price is $4.32, and that often includes several individual items or portions. It’s important to keep in mind that restaurant takeout and delivery have become very big since the start of the pandemic, and the levels are holding. This means consumers can be more strategic in sourcing each meal component. Perhaps they have the main entrée delivered, whether that was pizza or burgers, but they can very easily complement with ice cream, frozen novelties, or something from the bakery.”

Here, a sampling of additional stats on where ice-cream sales stand this summer.

Says Roerink, “Life is still home-centric with 80% of all meal occasions, including desserts and treats, prepared at home. This has fueled robust sales of all things dessert and treats, including bakery, deli, and frozen. I believe it is that combination of a home-centric life, with strategic spending on restaurant vs. retail, that continues to drive strong interest in frozen desserts.”

“Like other areas in the store and the frozen food department, supply chain is wreaking havoc in frozen desserts as well. Frozen is plagued with out-of-stocks or low order fill rates, but consumers are clearly still cruising the aisles for a little indulgence,” says Roerink.

According to Roerink, it’s not just inflation … the frozen dessert aisle is still selling more units as well vs. pre-pandemic at 8.1%. Additionally, the vast majority of new dollars are fueled by novelty. Frozen novelties reached $6.4 billion in the latest 52 weeks, which is up 5.8% year-on-year, or 38.0% vs. pre-pandemic. Units for frozen novelties are up 16.7% vs. pre-pandemic.

“Frozen novelty is an interesting category, as it ranges from pure indulgent gelato to items that have a high concentration of fruit and vegetables, or other health and wellness components,” says Roerink. “The latter then becomes yet another reason to splurge a little on frozen novelties, as it feeds both physical health and emotional well-being.”