Slob Britain: 63% of Brits eat ice cream on the sofa

No comments

This article is part of our Ice Cream Report 2015.

More Brits eat ice cream on the sofa than at the table, according to an exclusive poll for The Grocer. More than one in five don’t even bother to put in a bowl and eat straight from the tub.

Meanwhile, the efforts of ice cream manufacturers to make ice cream a year-round product appear to be failing with only 53% of consumers saying they eat ice cream at home regardless of the season.

“Ice cream is clearly seen as a treat rather than everyday dessert for the majority and we see that for 63% of us, the sofa is the place to eat ice cream,” says Lucia Juliano, head of consumer & retail research at Harris Interactive UK, which polled 2,000 consumers on behalf of The Grocer,

“Presumably it is consumed on the sofa in front of the TV and so maybe this ‘indulgent behaviour’ is why ice cream it is still seen as a treat dessert. Twenty one per cent of us don’t even bother scooping it into a bowl – we just dig straight into the tub.”

The research suggests the British weather is a key factor when it comes to ice cream consumption. Twenty nine per cent say that year round sun would be the biggest influence on them eating more ice cream, the most popular response.

“Whilst ice cream brands are working hard to persuade us to indulge in ice cream as a dessert throughout the seasons, it seems that many of simply reject this idea - just 1% of those who eat ice cream seasonally do so in Winter,” Juliano.

“Our research suggests that in the colder months, people are helping themselves more to crumbles or steamed puddings than a cold dessert.”

Eleven per cent of consumers, and 23% of those aged between 16 and 24, regularly eat 500ml tubs to themselves in one sitting. When we asked the same question last September, 13% and 22% of young people admitted to doing so.