Comelle Top Five Ice Cream Trends Shaping 2025

Soft serve ice cream is a key element across almost every food and drink outlet. Whether celebrating and sharing together, or indulging solo this staple sweet treat is a crowd-pleaser with all ages.

But, in such a competitive sector, caterers need to deliver something that sets them apart from their competitors. Using Comelle, with its unbeatable flavour and unrivalled texture to offer both customers and consumers alike great quality and consistent experiences, is one way to do this. But it’s also important to track current trends and adapt them for your outlet’s customers.

With this in mind, Comelle has shared its insights on the top five trends shaping the ice cream category in the year ahead.

Hybrid desserts are here to stay: A fun and exciting way to merge different flavours, textures and culinary trends, hybrid desserts will continue to feature on menus throughout 2025. Innovative combinations, such as soft serve-filled croissants, soft serve-topped Brookies, soft serve sundae tacos and soft serve-filled churro cones, blend traditional desserts with a modern take to offer consumers a fun twist on their favourite treats. While allowing operators to develop innovative menus with minimal effort but achieving maximum profit.

Instagram will continue to drive the trend for picture-perfect desserts: In today’s social media-driven world, dessert isn’t just about taste – it’s about visual appeal. Whether it’s a perfectly swirled soft serve cone, a sundae topped with an array of colourful toppings, or a new take on an Eton mess, Instagram has redefined how consumers enjoy ice cream and desserts. In fact, when it comes to sweet treats, a picture-perfect presentation can make all the difference.

While visually appealing toppings such as sweets, fruits, nuts and sauces play a vital role here, ensuring you use a soft serve such as Comelle which has slower melt properties alongside great flavour and texture will aid visual appeal and help to encourage customers through the door.

Multiple textures in one dessert: When it comes to desserts, whilst taste remains of number one importance, it isn’t the only thing that matters to consumers – texture now plays a critical role in elevating the entire experience. Whether it’s the velvety smooth finish of Comelle or the crisp crunch of a topping, how a dessert feels in the mouth impacts satisfaction. Consider offering consumers a variety of textures in one dessert. Nuts and cookie crumble will add crunch, while marshmallows or mochi pieces will bring the chew, velvety sauces, soft fresh fruit pieces and popping candy will also add dynamism to soft serve desserts.

Flavours of 2025: One of the many benefits of using a soft serve ice cream mix such as Comelle is that it is the perfect base for incorporating on-trend flavours. Whether it’s through sauces and drizzles or putting flavourings directly into the ice cream machine alongside the mix, soft serve allows consumers to experience on-trend flavours in a variety of ways.

Indulgent flavours such as dulce de leche and salted caramel will remain high on consumers’ wish lists, while nostalgic flavours are making another comeback with apple and cinnamon expected to appear on menus in formats outside of traditional crumbles and pies. Lastly, we can expect to see a bit of experimentation with exotic fruits such as mango and passionfruit making a mark, alongside floral flavours such as lavender and hibiscus and flavour profiles not traditionally associated with desserts such as basil and miso.

On-the-go: While some vendors already have the trend for on-the-go soft serve ice cream desserts at the heart of their business, for others it’s a great way to stay current as consumers continue to look for quick, indulgent, and portable treats. These desserts tend to be served in minimal packaging and designed for easy eating while on the go.

Including a range of innovative handheld dessert options such as ice cream buns, tacos, jars and cones are simple ways to encourage incremental sales and drive profit, as these creative formats not only cater to consumer’s sweet cravings but fit conveniently into their busy schedules.

While some of these trends are familiar, 2025 will bring evolution, creating more profit opportunities for operators and new experiences for consumers.

For further information about Comelle’s full range of ice cream mixes as well as thick shakes mixes, please visit www.lakelanddairies.com/food-service/products-overview/brands/comelle