Our Survey Says… Ice Cream Inclusions are on the Up

Nationwide Survey

Pecan Deluxe Europe recently commissioned a survey across the UK to find out what “bits” the population like in their ice cream. The response was huge, with people of all of all ages taking part in regions up and down the nation. An overwhelming 77% of participants preferred some kind of inclusion in their favourite ice cream.

Interesting Results

In a close race, chocolate shapes came out as the most popular ice cream mix-in with 20.3% of the votes. Cookie dough came second with a score of 16.1% and pralines with 15.7% placed third. The survey also revealed a telling age gap preference, as cookie dough scored 35% in the 18-24-year-old category, 10% ahead of second favourite brownie!

A gender gap was evident too, with females preferring cookie dough and pralines, both scoring around 18% compared to 13% and 12% with males. Chocolate shapes were however 3% more popular amongst males – 22.3% to 19.1%.

A Very Insightful Project

EMEA managing director Graham Kingston explained: “This Survey has really been a fascinating project and our NPD team are having a field day with the results, as we gave the respondents the opportunity to give us feedback on what they’d most like to see in their ice creams. It’s also extremely gratifying to find out the significant investment that we have recently made in increasing production capacity of both chocolate shape and cookie dough lines is perfectly aligned with consumer demand for those products – in ice creams especially!



“Our most popular inclusions – cookie dough, chocolate shapes, brownies and pralines all performed pretty consistently across different population centres within the UK. However, if you happen to be in Norwich or Cardiff, don’t expect to find as many cookie dough fans! We’re looking forward to maximising the survey data to predict new trends and, as always, help our household name brand partners to develop new and innovative products to satisfy consumer tastes.”