10 Ice cream inspiration ideas | Inspiration for a long, hot summer of hospitality
Mochi-ice-cream
Ijsmanschap Amsterdam - popsicles bar
Chimney with ice cream by Good Food
Ice cream served with your coffee
Taiyaki - Fish waffle with ice cream
What’s going to be a trend in ice cream this summer? Throughout the past year we have seen that comfort food was very popular in the take-away and delivery market, Jonnie and Thérèse Boer of the Dutch 3 Michelin stars restaurant De Librije reopened last week with in–room dining (March 19) with a menu of 6 classic dishes from 30 years De Librije. Does that mean that we’re mainly craving the classic ice cream flavours this summer? At Horecatrends, we think that the flavours vanilla, hazelnut, chocolate and strawberry will of course remain favourite. But there is a lot more to choose from… Ice cream maker Rob Kok (IJspaleis Driehuis) came up with a solution for doubting guests in 2016, the ‘ehh ice cream’!
But there are more types of ice cream that are gaining attention, such as the Japanese Mochi ice cream, ice cream made from pickles and so on. We listed a top 10 ice cream inspiration ideas!
1. Mochi
This Japanese ice cream dish is made of mochi dough, a sweet and sticky dough based on Japanese glutinous rice, stretched, rolled and wrapped around scoops of ice scream.
It is both a dessert and a summer indulgence in Japan. Although we already spotted this dessert in 2017 at Whole Foods Markets, it is gradually becoming more popular in the Netherlands. The nice thing is that it is a rather small portion and that you can taste multiple flavours. Mochi ice scream is now being sold by various Dutch wholesalers, such as Asian Food Lovers.
2. Savoury, sour or pickled ice cream
Lucky Pickle Dumpling Co. New York has experimented with pickles. What do you think about ice cream with pickle flavour? This new variation was created by the same people that were behind Jakobs Pickles, a restaurant located on NYC’s Upper West Side on Amsterdam Avenue. We tasted the ice cream at the time and certainly didn’t like it. Still, we made it later and served a small amount with a beef carpaccio and then it tastes great! Savoury ice creams are served at special dishes at various restaurants nowadays. Ice cream made from herbs and mustard are common savoury ice cream variations.
3. Vegan ice cream
During summer 2019 we wrote about a pop-up vegan ice cream shop from JuiceBrothers x van Leeuwen. Since 2017, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, which has numerous branches in New York and Los Angeles, has started a collaboration with JuiceBrothers. JuiceBrothers now has 8 branches in the Netherlands and a branch in New York and Memphis. Nowadays, every self-respecting ice cream shop has vegan options with dairy cream alternatives such as coconut or almond. One of these brands is Professor Grundschnabel’s ice cream, which we wrote about in 2012!
4. Organic ice cream popsicles | No guilt, just pleasure
A great organic ice cream shop example is IJsmanschap in Amsterdam, we wrote about this too in 2016. This popsicle ice cream bar makes 100% organic ice creams. IJsmanschap offers their customers a delicious, guilt-free ice cream!
It is known that obesity brings health risks, an ever-growing group is now looking for products that they can enjoy without feeling guilty. Especially this summer, with the health consequences of Covid-19 still fresh in our minds, the demand for sugar-free ice cream will also increase. Of course, we rather ‘moderately’ enjoy what we really like and what is made out of the best products!
5. Creativityworks on TikTok and Instagram | What about tulip-shaped ice cream cones
In the past we have written about special ice cream combinations such as a warm bun with ice cream at Capri in Rotterdam and ice cream served in croissants at Churned Creamery. But the donut ice cream cones called Chimney’s from Prague Bakery “Good Food” were also very Instagrammable. Also TikTok worthy are the Japanese ice creams served in a fish-shaped cake (at Taiyaki in New York) and ice creams served in a cloud of cotton candy at The Milk Train Café in London. In 2016, even Baskin-Robbins ventured into ice cream served in a donut!
It’s a cool idea to make a tulip-shaped ice cream cone or a cone in the shape of a wooden shoe or any other local symbol of your city or country. It continues to thrive on Instagram and TikTok and we think that each ice cream parlour would like to welcome Gen Z in their shop this summer!
6. Sculptingice
Or recreate something! For example: “What a melon ice cream” by Dominique Ansel. A slice of watermelon made out of ice cream. Just be creative! What can you make out of ice?
7. Cool ways to serve coffee in combination with ice
In 2016 #coffeeinacone was a hype on Instagram, but of course it remains a special way to serve coffee! And you can count on these trends to thrive on your social media channels. In 2017, we even had a pop-up shop of ‘The Cone Masters‘ in Amsterdam with #coffeeinacone in various flavours. Generation Z does not seem to be crazy about the bitterness of, for example, espresso that is used for this, but as an ice cream shop you can also serve very cool mini cones with a mini scoop of ice with your coffee. But you can also sell these mini ice cream cones for children and people who like to enjoy a smaller portion.
8. Freakshakesand pie shakes
It’s one trend has gone fast, it were freakshakes! We wrote about it in February 2017 and during that summer it was already on many ice cream shop menus. And although it is a calorie bomb, we still see posts about it on social media every now and then! What we have not spotted yet in the Netherlands is the pie shake. A slice of pie, a large scoop of ice cream and you can create a shake in the pie flavour of your choice. We made it at our office at the time we wrote about it and most colleagues loved it.
9. Combination ofice cream and alcohol | cocktail flavours & beer ice cream
We wrote about it in 2017: a combination of ice cream and alcohol. We had just spotted The Tipsy Scoop Barlour (a combination of bar en parlor) in New York. Meanwhile, there are various parties that combine ice scream and alcohol. Even gin tonic and bellini ice creams, a Radler ice cream from Bavaria or a Liefmans ice cream from the Bon Appetit ice cream parlor in Breda!
10. Different ways toprepare ice cream
Another trend that more and more entrepreneurs respond to is molecular ice cream made in nitrogen and ice cream made on a teppanyaki. Nowadays, ice cream shops can instantly make ice cream with a gelato machine.
Website: Horeca Trends
