It’s a sweet state of affairs for the retail ice cream/sherbet category. Dollar sales jumped 7.6% to $7,298.8 million during the 52 weeks ending May 17, 2020, according to data from Chicago-based market research firm IRI. Volume sales rose 3.7% to 1,858.7 million.

Ice cream sales take off

The retail ice cream subcategory fared even better than the larger category. Dollar sales climbed 8.1% to $6,542.7 million. Unit sales increased 4.3% to 1,657.4 million.

Posting the strongest growth among the subcategory’s top 10 brands was Tillamook (Tillamook County Creamery Association). Its dollar sales improved 39.6%, while its unit sales grew 34.9%. Close behind was Talenti (Unilever USA). Its dollar and unit sales rose 18.7% and 13.9%, respectively.

The only top 10 brand to post negative results — at least on the dollar sales side — was Halo Top (Wells Enterprises). The brand’s dollar sales fell 27.5%; unit sales dropped 28.1%.

Mixed results for other subcategories

Outside of the giant ice cream subcategory, results were mixed.

The frozen yogurt/tofu category saw dollar sales decline by 0.5% to $318.0 million. Unit sales fell 4.7% to 73.2 million.

The biggest winner among the top 10 brands here was NadaMoo. The dairy alternative brand’s dollar sales climbed 67.3%, and its unit sales jumped 75.1%.

Dreyer’s (Froneri) posted the most disappointing results among the top 10 brands. Dollar and unit sales were down 46.5% and 46.3%, respectively.

The sherbet/sorbet/ices subcategory also struggled. Although dollar sales were up 2.9% to $197.6 million, unit sales took a 0.6% dive to 63.2 million.

But the ice milk and frozen dairy dessert subcategory performed much better, with dollar sales rising 9.6% to $240.4 million. Unit sales were up 2.7% to 64.9 million.