The Comelle survey found ice cream was the nation’s favourite summer treat with 90% of consumers voting for it. Britain’s number one summer treat is vanilla soft serve ice cream (59%), followed by scoop ice cream (31%).
Chocolate was voted the third favourite snack with 6% of the vote while crisps came fourth place with just 2% of the votes.
The classic ‘99’ chocolate flake was voted the nation’s favourite topping to go with an ice cream (33%), followed by caramel sauce (16%) and then chocolate sauce (12%).
Nearly half of those surveyed (46%) said in a typical year they bought a soft serve ice cream more than five times a year, whilst 6% of consumers said they would only buy once per year or ‘occasionally’.
Jean Cattanach, marketing controller Lakeland Dairies, said: “With the long-awaited opening up of cafes and restaurants we wanted to explore how Brits love to treat themselves in the summer months, and what they are most looking forward to buying this year.
“We were delighted to see vanilla soft serve ice cream top the list of summer treats. It’s Comelle Ice Cream Mix’s 70th anniversary this year and as we celebrate seven decades of creating award-winning ice cream it’s wonderful to see how nostalgic Brits feel about one of life’s simple pleasures such as enjoying an ice cream on the beach.”
The survey also found most consumers associated soft serve ice cream with a British summer holiday at the seaside (48%) and childhood memories (17%).
Consumers top five ice cream flavours include: vanilla, chocolate, mint choc chip, strawberry and coffee.