A FAMILY farm based ice cream brand has scooped up a new UK-wide listing for its fastest growing product, putting it in closer reach of dessert fans throughout the country.
Mackie’s of Scotland’s Honeycomb flavour will be available in up to 245 Waitrose outlets from June, joining the firm’s highly recognisable Traditional Real Dairy ice cream in the supermarket’s freezers.
The deal, worth an anticipated £500,000 in retail sales, follows last year’s milestone UK-wide listing with Sainsbury’s which saw the flavour, already readily available in Scotland, extend its reach significantly throughout England and Wales.
This has seen sales for the product surge by more than a third in the last 12 months to become the brand’s biggest growing line.
To create the flavour, the Mackie’s team hand-make honeycomb puff candy in traditional copper pots, before breaking it up and swirling the little molten pieces through its real dairy ice cream, which is made using milk and cream from the herd.
Lyndsay Mackay, Senior National Account Manager at Mackie’s of Scotland, has hailed the Waitrose deal as a further milestone that will help create new Mackie’s fans south of the border, as well as pleasing many existing fans who have not easily been able to get their hands on Honeycomb until now.
She said: “The success of our Traditional real dairy ice cream over the past three decades has been brilliant. Our Scottish consumers have long been able to enjoy our wide range of fantastic flavours, and we’re so excited about this new listing giving consumers in England and Wales an opportunity to discover more of Mackie’s.
“That change is now well underway. This Waitrose listing for honeycomb comes after last year’s similar listing with Sainsbury’s, making our Honeycomb easier than ever for consumers to get their hands on it across Great Britain.
“It’s no surprise to us that with this increased availability the flavour is really taking off. It’s that moment of luxury and proper quality at a price point that we are working very hard to keep as affordable as possible.”
The listing comes as Mackie’s achieved its highest ever market share in the premium ice cream sector in England and Wales. Last year, to achieve this, the brand saw an increase of half a million customers across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, adding to its significant existing share in Scotland, where it occupies 21% of the premium take home ice cream market.
A major contributing factor to this increase was the farm’s feature in BBC’s ‘Inside the Factory’ programme presented by Greg Wallace, where the brand’s process of making Honeycomb ice cream was viewed by millions of people.
This summer Mackie’s is launching its biggest ever marketing campaign to drive penetration for the family brand across the UK, which will include advertising across television, digital channels, an on-pack promotion and extensive social media promotion.
Mackie’s is one of the UK’s top ice cream brands, with its 1 litre Traditional tub being the 4th best-selling premium ice cream product in the UK. As the brand grows, Mackie’s has gained a cache of awards in the process, and still produces all its ice cream using fresh milk and cream from the dairy herd on the family farm in north east Scotland.
