R&R Ice Cream is set to bring a host of Disney characters to Britain’s freezers.

The Yorkshire-based company - Europe’s biggest volume producer of ice cream - has just begun rolling out its first UK ice creams made under licence for the entertainment giant: ice cream sticks shaped like Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears.

These will be followed by further Disney products, including take-home packs of iced lollies this summer based on upcoming Disney/Pixar movie Monsters University, a prequel to Monsters Inc.

“Disney is incredibly successful at bringing excitement to stores with its new launches, and products such as this will allow us to leverage such in-store activity and excitement,” said R&R senior marketing manager Charlotte Hambling.

R&R produced a Toy Story lolly for Asda in 2010, but strengthened its connection with Disney the following year when it acquired French ice cream producer Pilpa, which held a licence to produce Disney products.

R&R has since extended this agreement in order to develop products in the UK and Europe based on properties from across the Disney portfolio - which includes Pixar and Marvel Comics movies.

The Mickey and Minnie lines have been developed specifically for the UK, with R&R claiming there was a gap in the market for a chocolate-covered ice cream for children.

The Mickey sticks are made of vanilla ice cream encased in milk chocolate, while the Minnie version is made of vanilla and strawberry-flavoured ice cream (both rsp: £2/six-pack). Mickey lollies will also be available as a single for the impulse market (rsp: 70p).

Both products comply with The Walt Disney Company’s nutritional guidelines that control calories, fat, satfat, sodium and sugar.

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