Summer heat drives Migros’ ice cream production to multi-year high
The hot summer has fuelled Migros’ ice-cream production. In the face of the heatwaves, the retailer has produced more ice cream than it has done for several years.
“We’re in the high double-digit percentage range compared with the last hot summer of 2023,” a Migros spokeswoman said on Friday in response to an enquiry from the AWP news agency, without giving any figures. Production at Migros’ subsidiary Delica was also higher than in the same period last year.
The surge began in June with the first heatwave of the year. This had led to very high demand, the spokeswoman added. Even afterwards, business remained at a high level throughout the height of summer.
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Capacity stretched to the limit
“Production was operating at correspondingly high capacity to meet demand,” she said. At certain sites, production even ran round the clock, with capacity ramped up to the maximum.
“Due to the high temperatures, water-based ice creams and sorbets were in particularly high demand. In general, sales of cones, ice lollies and individual tubs also developed very positively,” she said. “Experience shows that the higher the temperatures, the greater the demand for lighter and more refreshing ice creams.”
The Crème d’Or Vanilla ice cream in the one-litre tub remained a bestseller. The cult ice creams Seehund, Affe and Bär, as well as Megastar, Fun and the M-Budget cones, were also in high demand, she said.
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Migros dominates Swiss ice cream production
At Migros’ industrial subsidiary Delica in Meilen, up to 70 tonnes of ice cream are produced every day. A total of 250 different ice cream products are manufactured. Of these, 160 can be found on Migros shelves. The remaining products are sold to the catering trade or are contract-manufactured for third-party companies (“private label”).
According to previous figures, Delica produces 9,000 tonnes of ice cream per year. This accounts for around half of the domestic production sold in Switzerland.
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