Ice cream in the confectionery and bakery - the perfect complement

Ice cream- whether artisanal ice cream or soft ice cream - is not reserved for the classic Italian ice cream parlour. On the contrary: ice cream also has a long tradition in bakery and confectionery.

Thus, the production of artisan ice cream is not only part of the confectioner's training, the classic "confectioner's ice cream" also enjoys an excellent reputation for its high quality and typical taste - and for many young, creative confectioners, ice cream is a natural part of the product range.

Ice cream is also already an integral part of the range in many bakeries, and more and more bakeries are including ice cream in their assortment: Whether as an impulse product to take away or for the popular ice cream sundaes in the chic, modern bakery cafés. And in eastern Germany , it is impossible to imagine many bakeries without ice cream anyway - scoop and soft ice cream are quite naturally part of the "basic supply" there by the local baker.

Why does ice cream go so well with bakery and confectionery?

The reasons for this are many, but actually easy to summarise: Ice cream is simply an ideal complementary product for bakery and confectionery.

Ice cream and soft ice cream have a high profit margin, are a perfect take-away product for the home (and as a to-go product they are crisis-proof even in Corona times) and compensate for a possible slump in sales during the "hot season" - because at 35° Celsius some people prefer the cool scoop of ice cream to the tasty but rather hearty cream cake. In the vast majority of cases, no additional staff is needed, as ice cream is conveniently sold on the side - and if ice cream sales go so well that additional staff is needed, then this is certainly an investment that people are happy to make.

Ice cream - but handmade, please!

We firmly believe that bakers and confectioners should make their own ice cream and not resort to ready-made industrial ice cream - just as they make the cakes and baked goods themselves and do not sell frozen goods from Bofrost or Coppenrath & Wiese.

The reasons are obvious: homemade ice cream is individual, fresh and high quality. Home-made ice cream has a significantly higher profit margin. And just as with baked goods, you can taste the difference between craft and industrial goods very clearly.

Of course, this requires a certain investment in a professional ice cream laboratory and needs at least one qualified "ice cream maker" who makes the ice cream fresh. However, the investment pays off much faster than you might initially think - if you are interested, please contact us for a individual profitability calculation for your project.

By the way, there are now also multi-functional machines specially tailored to the needs of the confectionery/bakery that can produce not only ice cream but also many other specialities (e.g. creams and fillings, chocolate or choux pastry) and thus pay for themselves even more quickly.

The production of ice cream itself is not a problem for most confectioners and bakers, as both professions are already very familiar with the artisanal production of food. Those who would like to brush up their ice-cream making skills a little more are best advised to take part in a 3-day Gelato University ice-cream seminar at one of the various training venues in Germany (you can find the current dates here).

There is also little need to change the raw materials , because a large proportion of the ingredients for ice cream production - sugar, cream, milk, fruit, etc. - are also used in the production of baked goods. - are also needed for the production of baked goods and are available in most companies anyway.

Of course, the ice cream laboratory can also be individually adapted to the size and special features of each business - so it is possible to realise both a small, fine production for a single location as well as a central laboratory from which up to several hundred branches are supplied every week. Here, individual consultation is absolutely necessary - because, of course, the technology must adapt to your requirements and not vice versa.

Nobody needs ice - and that's exactly how you have to present it!

The second important point is the presentation of the ice cream - because one should never forget: Bread is a staple food, but nobody really needs ice cream. The customer buys ice cream because he or she feels like it - and the product should definitely be presented in such an attractive and appetising way that the customer feels this very desire.

However, the size of the presentation area is not necessarily important. Of course a Large ice cream display case with up to 24 types of ice cream be integrated harmoniously into your shop fitting. But in the meantime there are innovative solutions - for example the IFI Panorama technology - with which ice cream can be presented attractively and innovatively even in small shops and on a minimal surface area . Here, too, we strongly recommend a personal consultation so that you can find the ideal solution for your individual situation.

You can find more on this topic in our blog post "Nobody needs ice cream - why presentation is so important in ice cream"..

Soft ice cream - minimum effort, maximum yield

Soft ice cream is also an ideal complementary and take-away product for bakeries and confectioneries. Soft ice cream can be produced with minimal (space and manufacturing) effort , does not require additional staff and has a very high profit margin. Again, it's just a matter of finding the right machine for your needs - because the range extends from small, inexpensive and space-saving table-top machines up to resilient high-performance machines for high-frequency locations.

In this case, eastern Germany is way ahead of the west: While soft ice cream is almost a rarity in many regions, soft ice cream has been an integral part of most bakeries in the east for many years - and believe us: the bakeries earn good money with it.

You can find outmore about soft ice cream in our blog article on the topic "Soft ice cream - what is it, how does it work and what are the benefits?"

Bottled ice cream for at home - why not?

As a final suggestion for you: If you are already selling ice cream, why not pack it in portions for home use? Why shouldn't your customers also enjoy your ice cream at home instead of industrial goods from the food retail trade? Or why don't you even try to sell your packaged ice cream to food retailers yourself - as a high-quality, artisanal alternative to conventional industrial ice cream?

In other European countries - Italy in particular - it has long since become normal for customers to buy high-quality ice cream at home. And it's actually easier than you think to fill your homemade ice cream into portion cups - whether as a 250g "single portion", as a classic 500g portion, or as a 2L family pack. You can find out more about this in our blog post on the topic "Ice cream to-go - from cup filling to ice cream on a stick".

By the way, as a final idea: yes, you can also fill soft ice cream into portion cups on rainy days, shock freeze it, and then sell it to go....

Ice cream and confectionery/bakery: it just fits!

So you see: ice cream and baked goods - it fits! You add an attractive, economically interesting and crisis-proof product to your product range. The production is easy to learn for master craftsmen and scalable for any size of business. And with a little creativity, you can open up additional, interesting sales channels .

But you can also see: there is no suitable standard solution for all confectioneries and bakeries here - it is important to adapt the entire concept to your business, your ideas and your locations. Of course, we are happy to help you with this - because that is exactly what we see ourselves as: not as your supplier - as your partner who works with you to develop the optimal solution for you.

If you are interested, please contact us directly - we look forward to hearing from you!

Best regards,

Your Alois Krä GmbH