“Well over a third of consumers are treating themselves now more than ever”

While scores of Brits embraced healthier lifestyles during lockdowns, others boosted their morale by tucking into treats.

That’s shown by the extra 54 million litres of ice cream that went through the tills last year, adding £226.1m to the take-home market [Kantar 52 w/e 27 December 2020]. And, as consumers sought out comfort in calories, indulgent lines were the biggest winners. To sum up the nation’s mood: Magnum was the fastest-growing brand and better-for-you sensation Halo Top was the fastest-falling [Nielsen].

“Well over a third of consumers are treating themselves now more than ever, and are looking for comfort and indulgence,” says Kat Jones, marketing manager at Häagen-Dazs.

So where does all this indulgence leave low-calorie lines? Was ‘healthy’ ice cream just a flash in the tub? And with lockdown restrictions easing and people venturing out, what’s the forecast for ice cream this year?

“As the pandemic took hold there was a really big resurgence of growth in indulgence”

Read the full article here

Fast-becoming a true alternative to dairy, oat milk could be the biggest thing to shake up the industry ever.

If you haven’t yet tried any oat milk products yet, prepare to be pleasantly surprised by this healthy dairy alternative.

We’ve seen almond, coconut, and cashew milk in supermarkets for years, but now oat milk is the latest dairy-free alternative to trend, cropping up everywhere from local coffee shops to select Starbucks stores and supermarkets. It’s made from steel-cut oats or whole groats that are soaked in water, blended, and then strained, with an end result that’s creamier than most nut milks. And while you may just be getting used to adding it to your morning coffee or requesting it in lattes, catch up—the latest oat milk innovation is already here, and it can be found in the freezer aisle.

Oat milk’s entry into the market is significant. Back in February, So Delicious Dairy Free launched what it claimed to be “the first-to-market” frozen oat milk desserts in three flavors: peanut butter & raspberry, oatmeal cookie, and caramel apple crumble, which are all dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan. And recently, Oatly, the Swedish oat milk brand that’s quickly taken the Western World by storm, announced an ice cream line of its own. (Also dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan, as well as nut-free, soy-free, and kosher.)

A vegan milk made from pulped oats may not sound like a tasty proposition, but Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z and Natalie Portman would beg to differ.

The celebrities are among the backers of Oatly, the maker of plant-based cheese, ice cream and other “dairy” products that listed in New York recently.

Oatly was founded in the early 1990s by Rickard Oste, a university professor, and his brother Bjorn. Until recently, its milk substitute was little-known outside hipster enclaves.

Thanks to quirky advertising, though, Oatly is escaping this niche. In February 2021, the company spent an estimated $5 million on a television advert during the Super Bowl, one of the ad industry’s premier slots. It featured Toni Petersson, Oatly’s chief executive, standing behind a synthesiser in the middle of a wheat field singing the slogan “wow, wow, no cow” on repeat. The jingle was pure earworm, but it achieved its goal. The ad caused a stir on social media.

Oatly has been floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York at a price of $17 a share, valuing the company at nearly $10 billion.

The group, based in Malmo, raised $1.4 billion, including $1.1 billion in new shares and $335 million for selling nvestors.

Toni Petersson, its chief executive, used the listing to cut his holding in Oatly from 9.9 million shares to 8.6 million, collecting $22.1 million and leaving him with a 1.5 per cent stake worth $146 million.

With the sun finally upon us, who isn’t in the queue for a frozen dessert to cool off? This recent article takes a bit of a light hearted look at celebrities enjoying an ice cream, nothing more, just a series of images of celebs enjoying the delights of ice cream…enjoy!
See the article here

With more than 60 years of experience, Vezzadini is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of packaging machines for margarine, butter and fresh cheese.

Vezzadini started in 1955 and since then has stood out for its great technical capacity and constant desire for innovation.

Vezzadini’s business began by developing the first automatic packaging machine capable of dosing & wrapping butter in a perfectly cylindrical roll shape. Over the years many new packaging machines have been designed, always characterized by the inventiveness and imagination typical of Italians.

Overrun is a term that is used frequently in the ice cream trade. In simple terms, it’s the percentage of air that is held within a frozen product such as ice cream, gelato or sorbet.

All ice cream, gelato and sorbet products naturally have a percentage of air. Without air, they would be too dense and hard, lacking the beautifully smooth texture which you associate with quality a product.

Air increases the volume of the finished product, you probably already know this increases profit, but obviously, too much air can lower the quality of the product considerably.

On average, one litre of liquid ice cream mix before being frozen weighs approximately 1 kilo, the same weight of frozen mix will no longer fit in a 1 litre container, it now requires a 1.4 litre container due to the increase in volume due to the air content. As such, frozen ice cream products are more often sold by volume rather than their weight.

All frozen products have a different percentage of air, typically but not definitively some examples are:

Scoop Gelato – Typically 25-30%

Scoop Ice Cream – Typically 50-60%

Soft Serve Ice Cream (gravity machine) – Typically 30-35%

Soft Serve Ice Cream (pump machine) – Typically 60-80%

We have produced an Overrun Calculator which you can download here to help work out your own overrun.

Download it here

World leaders in ice cream machines

Teknoice is a leading Ice Cream Machines manufacturer, offering a complete range of equipment, from stand-alone machines to complete layouts.

The company was started in 1992 and has grown into an international company selling worldwide. Teknoice has over 1200 clients in almost 100 countries worldwide, with 5 offices.

We are now the appointed UK Agency for Teknoice Ice Cream Machinery and look forward to offering the complete range of new ice cream machines including the superb new ‘Deep Ice’ machine which offers a superior ice cream product by operating at -10 degrees to produce less ice crystals giving a smoother, more palatable texture.

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See the complete range of Teknofreeze ice cream machines here

We’d like to thank everyone for their business, support and assistance during what has been an unprecedented time for us all.

Wishing you and your family a restful Christmas break, we hope you stay safe and we look forward to some normality re-emerging next year.

From everyone at Machinery World

Combining the best of the old with the best of the new can give you outstanding results, as just one mouthful of the delectable Handmade Ice Cream Company premium selection will testify: produced using a combination of new and refurbished equipment from Machinery World, the mouth-watering flavours bring the skills of a former pastry chef right into your tub.

After fifteen years as a pastry chef in top hotels, Steven Darvill started a wholesale ice cream business with a difference, using his patisserie expertise to bake perfect cakes – then crumb them down to create the finest ice cream recipes.  Eight years on, he has expanded production and also opened his first retail unit in Ulverston, Cumbria.

My business ethos is to make ice cream as a chef would make it if they had the equipment and the time to craft it themselves,” explains Steven.  “Combining old skills with new, plus, of course, the finest 100% natural ingredients, I create around 35 – 40 bespoke flavours, and make the most of in-season produce – so both my blackberry, cinnamon and apple crumble and my gingerbread ice creams are current favourites, fitting perfectly into hotel seasonal menus.

My business ambition has always been to operate my own ice cream parlours as well as wholesale,” continues Steven, “so earlier this year I took over a bigger unit in Greenodd, Ulverston, which has expanded my production capacity and is also open to the public, with click and collect proving extremely popular over lockdown.

To achieve higher output without compromising on quality, Steven bought a Promag Easymix 120 batch pasteuriser from Machinery World, trading in his old machine to mitigate costs.

I bought a second-hand, serviced machine from Machinery World a few years ago, which has worked brilliantly for me, so I went straight to them to talk about my new business requirements,” says Steven.  “The great thing about Machinery World is that they sell new and used artisan/batch machines as well as their own ROKK industrial range, so you get a fair trade-in price for your old machine – and they make the process so quick and easy, even at the busiest time of the year.

As well as the comprehensive choice of machines – both refurbished and new – available from Machinery World, the main reason Steven went to them was because he knew he would get an honest recommendation of the right machine for his business expansion. 

What I find so refreshing about Machinery World is that they really take time to understand your business needs and what is right for you.  Instead of simply trying to sell you something, they give you all the information you need, and let you make the decision yourself,

says Steven. 

Everyone at Machinery World is extremely knowledgeable and they are such genuine people, I know that they would give me an honest opinion even if I phoned to ask about a machine from someone else,” he continues.  “Mind, you, given the extensive range they stock, I can’t imagine I would need to look elsewhere anyway!

The next challenge for the former pastry chef is to open a second ice cream parlour in a popular lakeside location, so even more customers can enjoy his delicious ice cream.

Theo Paphitis, Entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den star believes the pandemic has fast-forwarded business by five years according to an interview with the BBC back in May 2020.

Change that previously may have taken 2-3 years minimum to implement was achieved in weeks. Cloud based services have enabled sectors such as education to rapidly switch from physical to virtual learning. Other businesses have adapted by switching their focus from car manufacturers making ventilators to fashion houses making PPE.

Online shopping has increased the fortunes of e-commerce businesses and been increased by those who would have never attempted it previously. Zoom (or Teams, whichever your preferred flavour) has enabled business meetings to be conducted quickly and efficiently without the hassle of travel or take the time it used to involve.

This obviously all has an impact on businesses that relied on these traditional ways of life as we knew them. Retail will never be the same, also echoed by Theo Paphitis, travel, whether by car, rail or air have all been affected and unlikely to ever revert to exactly the way things were. Offices aren’t quite as critical as they once seemed, that evening out at a restaurant now being thought about as not quite as appealing maybe?

The world evolves and unfortunately, there will be those who suffer as a result, but there is nothing that can be done to revert to the way things were.

At Machinery World, like most businesses, the last six months have been challenging, but we continue to operate as normally as possible. We’re still taking plenty of orders and although we’re not an e-commerce business, we’re fully utilising our website and social media channels, ensuring we take even more videos and post these on-line to showcase our machinery.

We continue to ship orders worldwide with a recent factory installation in Barbados, along with further business conducted face to face in Turkey and Ireland recently.

If you would like any advice on purchasing machinery, have machinery to sell or need machinery servicing or repairing, please get in touch through the normal channels and we’ll be more than happy to assist.

Founded in the 1930’s by the Hartley family, the traditional Cumbrian ice cream parlour was a second home to Les Richardson who, as a schoolboy, would give Mr Hartley a hand odd-jobbing, before taking a full-time position in the iron ore mine.  In the 1980’s, he returned to his early years’ passion, buying first a half share and then the whole Hartley’s Ice Cream business.  

Son Mark followed in his father’s footsteps, helping out in his youth before pursuing a career at the local nuclear plant.  He returned to the business in 1990 and, in 1995, he met and traded with Paul Crowter, to buy his first ever homogeniser – and Paul’s first ever sale.

Paul had followed a similar career pattern to me, having returned to work with his dad in the ice cream business after many years in the fire service, Mark remembers, and we hit it off straight away.  He had such a passion for the ice cream industry and convinced me that the APV Gaulin K3 homogeniser would change my life – and he was right!  It was a complete eye-opener from our point of view – it did its job so well and, thanks to the excellent servicing, it never went wrong.

Mark and Paul have continued to meet and talk machines over the past 25 years at trade exhibitions, so when the time came for Mark to upgrade, he went straight to Paul and the ROKK range.

I had absolutely no hesitation in going to Paul and the Machinery World team,” continues Mark.  “I can’t think of anyone who knows more about the ice cream business.  They understand their customers’ equipment needs so well – possibly better than we do – and will recommend the perfect machine for each operator.  Combine this with the fantastic workmanship of the ROKK machinery and the brilliant aftercare service from the backroom staff: I just wouldn’t contemplate going elsewhere.

Mark invested in a brand new ROKK Series 3 Homogeniser and is absolutely delighted with the quality, durability and ease of use of his new purchase.

The ROKK is really quick to learn once you’ve had the initial training from the MW engineers – and so much more efficient,” says Mark.  “We have reduced production time by a third and significantly increased the smoothness and texture of our ice cream.  I couldn’t be more delighted with my new addition, and hope to add a ROKK pasteuriser and ROKK RFE continuous freezer to the stable in due course.

And what of the old K3? It’s still in perfect working order and carefully stored at MW HQ in Wolvey, after Paul bought it back from Mark as a nostalgic reminder that you should always fully understand your customers’ business so that you can recommend the perfect machine for their needs every time!