The “one armed bandit” brought some good news and some bad news to the ice cream and frozen novelty segment in the past year. The good news? Frozen novelties saw a pretty payout, with dollar sales rising 4.2% to $4,906.3 million during the 52 weeks ending Aug. 11, 2019, according to data from Chicago-based market research firm IRI. Unit sales increased 1.2%.
The bad news? Ice cream failed to hit it big. Dollar sales for the subcategory (excluding frozen yogurt/tofu, ice milk/frozen dairy desserts and sherbet/sorbet/ices) fell 1.4% to $6,063.8 million. Unit sales dropped 1.9%.