Gelato Weather is Here, Are You Ready?
With summers growing longer and hotter each year, gelato is an enticing option for chocolatiers and bakers looking to generate extra revenue and extend their client base through the warmer months. Read on to discover how adding ice cream and gelato to your repertoire could boost your profits.
The Young'uns Are at it Again…
Whether you like a scoop of plain vanilla in a cup, or a waffle cone piled high with different flavours, sauces and sprinkles, we all enjoy an ice cream on a sunny day. But as well as families and holidaymakers purchasing a frozen treat at the seaside, it’s the Millennials and Gen Z driving sales of gelato and frappés ever higher nationwide.
The younger generations favour visually appealing, luxury treats and have high purchasing power. They are seeking experiential moments in food, and it’s important to the demographic that those foods look good enough to go viral on Instagram and TikTok. Think freakshakes, dot cakes and the now world-famous Dubai bar.
The Rise of Premiumisation
A Circana study found that ice cream sales in the UK have steadily increased by 3% year-on-year to over £1.6 billion in the 12-month period to May 2025, and research by Nestlé shows that the out-of-home ice cream market was valued at £605 million in 2024, with more than 274 million units sold.
With the rising demand for premium products, it’s no surprise that gelato has been identified as one of the fastest growing premium categories in the UK market, according to The Grocer. Sales volume is up 3.2%, with the key driver being premiumisation, proven by the growth being value-driven rather than volume-driven.
All this means that serving gelato and frappés can have serious money-making potential, and what’s more, doing so requires only minimum staffing and can slot easily into an existing chocolate business.
Tell Me, What’s Your Flavour?
We know chocolate is your one true love (us too), but if you wish to serve ice cream flavours other than chocolate, the world is your (wafer) oyster. With Colac‘s range of premium quality ice cream base mixes and flavouring pastes, there are no limits to the flavour combinations you can create.
Enticed by the exciting prospect for our chocolatier community, we grabbed ourselves some samples and invited our visiting customers to learn more about gelato.
We tested everything from high-quality strawberry, rum and raisin and triple caramel flavours to black sesame and yuzu, matcha, lime and cactus.
And we didn’t receive a single negative comment.
You can make your gelato offering as traditional or as contemporary as you please – talk about versatility!
Follow the Money
Having started this article with the word, ‘revenue’, you are likely to be wondering about return on investment.
Well, take a look at this…
| Servings Per Day | 25 | 50 | 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Per Day | £80 | £160 | £320 |
| Profit Per Month | £2,000 | £4,000 | £8,000 |
Assumes Colac Complete Vanilla Base Mix, 100g servings at £3.50 per serving. 10% batch wastage, excl. VAT.
VAT registered? Here’s what it could look like:
| Servings Per Day | 25 | 50 | 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Per Day | £65 | £130 | £260 |
| Profit Per Month | £1,625 | £3,250 | £6,500 |
If you’re offering on trend, popular flavours like pistachio, you could charge much more:
| Servings Per Day | 25 | 50 | 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Per Day | £92.50 | £185 | £370 |
| Profit Per Month | £2,312.50 | £4,625 | £9,250 |
Assumes Colac Complete Neutral Base Mix and Nutural World Pistachio Paste, 100g servings at £4.50 per serving. 10% batch wastage, excl. VAT.
Or using Colac’s range of quality ice cream flavour pastes, create an entire ice cream counter of mouthwatering treats, for example, Cherry Gelato:
| Servings Per Day | 25 | 50 | 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Per Day | £75 | £150 | £300 |
| Profit Per Month | £1,875 | £3,750 | £7,500 |
Assumes Colac Complete Neutral Base Mix and Colac Cherry Flavour Paste, 100g servings at £3.50 per serving. 10% batch wastage, excl. VAT.
And with a few sprinkles and a drizzle of topping sauce, you can charge even more and entice customers with your premium offering. Discover why visually appealing sweet treats can command a higher price point in our blog Boost Profits with Edible Decorations.
How they line up per serving:
| Flavour | Price | Ingredient Cost | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla | £3.50 | 29p | £3.21 |
| Cherry | £3.50 | 41p | £3.09 |
| Pistachio | £4.50 | 80p | £3.70 |
With the gelato and iced drinks markets only looking set to grow in coming years, and the popularity of these products all year round (Scotland has a thriving ice cream market, for example!), adding such revenue streams to your existing chocolate business this summer might just be the booster you always wanted.