Dairy Dialog podcast 16: UK National Ice Cream Championships and Lithuanian company expands market
The ice cream industry’s premier event is held every year at the Ice Cream and Gelato Expo, with the next show at Harrogate’s Yorkshire Event Centre from February 12-14, 2019. The Expo is organized by the industry’s trade association – The Ice Cream Alliance.
There are 16 categories ranging from the most popular flavors across ice cream, sorbets and frozen yogurts to innovation in new flavors and presentation, as well as a ‘Newcomers’ award.
Category winners are judged at the Expo and an overall UK Champion is also announced.
Winners receive an Ice Cream Alliance Winners Certificate and silver trophy. Past winners have experienced significant boosts to their business as a result, the Alliance added.
“The National Ice Cream Competition has been held for 74 years,” said Zelica Carr, The Ice Cream Alliance CEO.
“It allows our industry to stimulate and recognize innovation, creativity and the highest standards of production. Ice cream is big business in the UK – worth over £1bn per year – but it is also big on talent. That is what we celebrate with this competition.”
The closing date for entries is January 11, 2019.
This is the 69th Expo organised by The Ice Cream Alliance. It is the UK’s only ice cream trade show and is free to attend for everyone in the business – or anyone thinking of setting up manufacturing or selling ice cream. Those interested can pre-register, or enter the competition, on the Ice Cream Alliance website: www.ice-cream.org
DairyReporter spoke with Carr about the organization and the event.
Pik-Nik Twiller Vitamin D enrichment
Žemaitijos Pienas is a Lithuanian company that sells products in many European countries. Its products are available in the UK, and the company recently opened an office in the country to further promote its expanding range of products there.
Its products include the glazed curd dessert bar Magija, a variety of cheeses under the Džiugas brand, Germanto cheeses, and Pik-Nik.
The Pik-Nik varieties of string cheese snacks was expanded recently with a new product enhancement that has increased the Vitamin D content contained in each peelable cheese stick.
Žemaitijos Pienas, located in Telšiai, was established in 1924, and now employs more than 1,300.
Bobbi Davy has represented Žemaitijos Pienas for the last five years and is responsible for raising the profile of its products with UK retailers and consumers. She supports the sales team based in the newly-opened London offices, and DairyReporter talked to Davy about the company’s products in the UK.
