1. Consumers may say they are choosing more healthy foods, but they want still treats
2. More than 50% of consumers think it’s important to see brands featured on dessert menus
3. Deals are important but there are ways to increase spend too
4. Size matters – the importance of portion control
1. Consumers may say they are choosing more healthy foods, but they want still treats
While survey after survey tell us that we’re all eating much more healthily and cutting back on sugar and fat, the fact that every high street or shopping centre has a dessert parlour of some shape or size tells a different story.
Impulse purchases have always been big in the convenience environment and desserts as a treat are paying dividends for forecourt retailer Fuzail Patel.
Patel’s Yoh Sweet concept serves mouthwatering sweet treats such as giant cookies and gooey brownies topped with Cadbury chocolate chunks and Oreo cookies. They retail at around £6.50 each, which might sound a lot but he says they are ‘massive desserts’.
Patel and his family run four petrol stations in Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. Yoh Sweet can be found in his Rotherham and Wakefield sites and will shortly go live in the Irlam forecourt.
The displays instantly stand out thanks to the pink and yellow Yoh Sweet branding and the chiller display with four shelves packed with delicious desserts. Patel says turnover from the counters is between £1,500 and £2,500 a week with profit margins of around 45%. “It all depends on where you are trading but for us, desserts are very profitable.”
Patel says he thinks customers enter his shops not intending to buy a treat but once they see the display they can’t help themselves. “All sorts of people buy the desserts but I am always amazed when I see bodybuilders come in and buy them. We have a gym close by one of our sites so they come in afterwards; it seems they have treat days just like the rest of us.”
At the moment some of the desserts are made in house and some are bought in but it is Patel’s intention to eventually do everything in house. This will come when he scales up the business – with the Irlam opening and via tie ups with the likes of Just Eat and Deliveroo. He is also keen to offer the concept to other retailers and says he is currently in talks with two big groups.
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2. More than 50% of consumers think it’s important to see brands featured on dessert menus
According to a recent Nestlé Professional report called ‘Breaking Dessert Barriers’, more than half of respondents who have a dessert when eating out think it is important to see a familiar name they know and/or trust. This rises to 72% among those aged 16-24, highlighting Gen Z as a prime audience for boosting sales of branded desserts.
Nestlé’s research covered out-of-home environments including cafes and casual dining restaurants but it is just as relevant to convenience and forecourt stores that offer a food-to-go service.
The aforementioned Yoh Sweet uses branded chocolate in some of its desserts and Country Choice’s Boston’s doughnut concept includes a hand-topped range which means retailers can add an element of customisation, as well as premiumisation, to their doughnut offer.
Phil Carratt, head of marketing and strategy, says: “With indulgent fillings and toppings, they are quick and easy to prepare and enable retailers to create a real point of difference while competing in the premium doughnut sector. Branded toppings include Lotus Biscoff, Cadbury, Oreo, McVities Jaffa Cakes, Jammie Dodgers and Fox’s, as well as three types of chocolate chips, mini beans, fudge pieces and crunchy pieces.”
The strength of branding is illustrated by the experience of Joe Hockenhull, managing director of Top 50 Indie Hockenhull Garages.
He introduced Pete’s Treats to one of his sites a few years ago – Shell St Peters in Wigston. The name Pete’s Treats was chosen because of that St Peters location as well as the fact that the company’s chairman and owner is Peter Hockenhull.
At the Pete’s Treats counter, consumers select their favourite chocolate bar – including Mars bars, Kinder Bueno and Reece’s peanut butter cups – and it gets mixed into a milkshake.
“We were shocked at the positive reaction we got from the milkshakes,” says Joe Hockenhull. “They are made using the same milkshake machines that McDonald’s use, courtesy of Taylors. We put our own spin on it with customers selecting a chocolate bar, us blending it and them drinking it – without the chocolate bar the shakes are vanilla.”
He says the success has continued, so much so that the shakes are now available at most of their sites, with Forecourt Trader of the Year winner The Stage in Leicester being the most successful.
“We’re now famous for our milkshakes in Leicester,” says Hockenhull. “After the success at The Stage we decided to take it to the next step with gelato ice creams, which have now made the site known for having a dessert parlour alongside our other foodservice offers.
“All of the offers complement one another and give the customers a full-scale experience with dinner and desert all available at once. We are really concentrating on sweet treats on the go at the minute as it is a market with good growth and excellent profit margins.”
The Hockenhull sites also have Tango Ice Blast machines but the company is moving more towards a local company called Dr Slush. “They are great value and there are over 20 flavours available to choose from,” says Hockenhull.
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3. Deals are important but there are ways to increase spend too
The Co-op is currently running a deal offering customers two pizzas, a tub of Ben & Jerry’s plus the chance to win Co-op Live tickets for £5 for Co-op members and £6 for non-members. This is a stunning offer when you consider that the rrp for a single tub of Ben & Jerrys is £5.75.
In Leicester, Hockenhull Garages runs deals which Joe Hockenhull says are a huge success. “Our wrap and milkshake deals and family feast deals are very popular. With the family feast deal, customers get two sides, a Stone Willy’s pizza and two shakes for £xx. The savoury and sweet food-to-go offers complement each other well.
While value will be important to many shoppers, temptation will be too hard to resist for others. Nestlé Professional’s report revealed that there are quite a few ways to encourage shoppers to spend more on desserts. These include a larger portion size, which can be shared, as well as creations that are hard to make at home. The aforementioned inclusion of brands gives a premium message, while customisation options and desserts that play into a sense of nostalgia can also increase sales.
Country Choice’s Carratt says one of the best ways to promote sweet treats is via a meal deal that links them to the purchase of a tea, coffee or other hot beverage.
“Positioning sweet treats near the relevant machine with cross category link deals clearly marked is a great idea. Our experience is that most sweet treat purchases are made on impulse and so we provide retailers with marketing and pos that helps them to capitalise on this. For example, cookies can get lost on standard retail shelving so we have designed cardboard units that can be placed near the till point to encourage impulse purchases. Sales of impulse items can be doubled if they are positioned in the correct area.”
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4. Size matters – the importance of portion control
Some people will easily be able to finish off a whole tub of Ben & Jerrys or Hagen-Dazs on their own, but others are looking for portion control and more bite-size treats.
Single-serve ice cream is a good example – whether bought singly or in a multipack.
Mars, in particular, is enjoying great multipack sales through the independent convenience channel with value sales of its multipacks increasing by 89% and total sales up 25% over the past three years (IRI data).
Kerry Cavanaugh, general manager at Mars Chocolate Drinks and Treats, says: “In 2024, the weather had a clear impact on the sales of impulse bars in convenience, however, it was interesting to see a significant spike in multipacks ice cream sales all year round, and particularly within the frozen food category during the autumn months.
“This suggests that ice cream is no longer reserved for those looking for a treat to cool down with during the summer months, but it is also the dessert of choice for shoppers opting for nights in and group gatherings. With this in mind, we are encouraging retailers to ensure they have an all-year-round ice cream presence, offering a wide range across both impulse and multipacks.”
This year Mars has extended its multipack range with the launch of the Snickers White Ice Cream bar in packs of four.
Cavanaugh says: “Snickers has long been a hero product of our range in the UK, and the white flavour has proved to be extremely popular in other European countries. In Germany, the Snickers White Ice Cream bar runs at 70% of the original Snickers rate of sale. “
This year Mars will also be launching a Galaxy Ice Cream impulse bar into wholesale and convenience channels.
Meanwhile, Haagen-Dazs may be very well known for its pint tubs but it also offers Mini Cups, which cater to the 31% of consumers who enjoy small indulgences and treats on a weekly basis (FMCG Gurus).
Nicole Whelan, head of Häagen-Dazs UK, says: “Our core range of indulgent ice cream has always been a firm favourite, continuing to see +13% sales growth year-on-year (Nielsen) and demonstrating the importance that these small but premium luxuries play for UK households.”
But perhaps the ultimate in portion controlled ice cream comes from Over the Moo with its pouches of bite-size ice creams.
These are plant-based ice cream chunks covered in dark chocolate. Resealable bags contain eight ‘bangin’ bites with a ‘Too bloody good to share’ message on pack. The calorie count of less than 30 per bite means that even if you gobble the whole lot, you haven consumed too many calories.
There are three flavours: chocolate, vanilla and caramel and they retail at £3.99 a pack.
Over the Moo founder, Simon Goodman, says: “Many say that our portion-controlled treats are a little reminiscent of latter-day choc ices which we see as a positive comparison with ‘newstalgia’ remaining such a hot trend. Yet, while choc ices prioritised convenience, our primary focus remains coupling great taste and an enviably low-calorie format (less than 30 calories a bite) with a clear sustainable agenda because this is a lactose-friendly offering actively campaigning to reduce our dependence on traditionally farmed cows’ milk.”
