Coconuts Organic and Banana Scoops are two new brands in UK supermarkets as the vegan ice cream category continues to expand. “Searches for vegan ice cream have risen by 181% over the past three years, so we know that our customers are actively interested in discovering plant-based alternatives,” According to Ocado.
Coconuts Organic
Ice cream brand Coconuts Organic first made waves when its founder, Cecily Mills, appeared on the BBC TV show Dragon’s Den. She successfully secured an investment of £75,000, with one of the Dragons claiming it was the best ice cream he’d ever tried.
Shortly afterwards, major supermarket Tesco wanted to stock Coconuts Organic across hundreds of its stores. Unfortunately, the £75,000 investment Mills had secured wasn’t enough for the necessary rebranding and manufacturing. She was forced to walk away from the offer and try a different approach — crowdfunding.
Just four months after Coconuts Organic appeared on Dragon’s Den, the brand launched its first crowdfunding campaign. In just two weeks, it raised over £400,000.
Mills faced her biggest challenge when her manufacturer pulled out just two weeks before Coconuts Organic was due to launch at Tesco. Luckily, Tesco granted her an extension and she was able to find new manufacturers.
Tesco now stocks seven different flavours of Coconuts Organic, with Mint Choc and Double Caramel selling the most. Over 150,000 pots of Coconuts Organic were sold last year, and the brand has recently launched in the supermarket Marks & Spencer too.
Banana Scoops
Many plant-based ice creams are not health foods, containing refined sugars and a high fat content. But new brand Banana Scoops has set out to change that. Its ice creams are made from all-natural ingredients, mainly blended bananas and dates. They are low-fat, contain no refined sugars, and are free of artificial additives.
The ice creams are available from the online supermarket Ocado. They come in three flavours — vanilla, chocolate, and raspberry. The pots are recyclable, and a serving contains just 156 calories. The ice cream even counts as one of your 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables!
Coconuts Organic and Banana Scoops join a host of other brands that have recently launched plant-based ice creams in the UK. Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, and Oatly have all done so in the past few years, responding to huge public demand.
