With unit sales of approximately 176 million, Ben & Jerry’s was the leading brand of ice cream in the United States in 2023. While Ben & Jerry’s was the leading brand, private labels sold a total of over 401 million units that year.

Ben & Jerry’s in the U.S.

Founded in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry, Ben & Jerry’s is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Ben & Jerry’s is one of the most popular brands of ice cream in the United States, as roughly a quarter of U.S. respondents reported purchasing Ben & Jerry’s ice cream within the last three months prior to a recent survey. The brand’s total U.S. ice cream sales amounted to over 951 million U.S. dollars in 2023.

In 2023, Ben & Jerry’s was the leading ice cream brand in the United States, based on sales of 951 million U.S. dollars. As impressive as the performance of Ben & Jerry’s is, private-label products made even more sales. Taken together, these products achieved a sales value of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars. Considering the total U.S. ice cream market generated a revenue of 19.1 billion U.S. dollars, this is still just a scoop full even if it’s the biggest. Ice cream brands in the U.S. Brands' unit sales somewhat mirror the sales values of the sector. Private-label once again leads Ben & Jerry’s. However, the distance between branded offers and private-label products is much larger. Private-label products sold 401 million units, over double Ben & Jerry’s 176 million units sold. Ben & Jerry’s is number one in popularity among consumers. Leading Breyer’s and Blue Bunny in second and third place, respectively. The U.S. ice cream market Ice cream is a part of the frozen dessert category and serves as an indulgent snack for those with a sweet tooth. Ice cream comes in a large variety of styles, ranging from regular ice cream to low-fat ice cream. There are fruity and creamy options available, or a combination of both. In recent years, lactose-free and sugar-reduced options have also become a mainstay of the industry. The retail price of ice cream products such as pre-pack, bulk, and regular ice cream has recently reached new heights. Prices have doubled compared to 1995 values. Still, consumers eat about 11.4 kilograms of ice cream annually.

Ben & Jerry's was by far the leading brand of take-home ice cream in convenience stores in the United Kingdom in 2024. In that year, the brand sold 20.1 million GBP of ice cream compared to second place Haagen-Dazs at just 5.7 million pounds.

The global ice cream market was worth 57 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 and is expected to grow to nearly 75 billion by 2024. This represents an over 30 percent increase in market size over the period. Unilever was the market leader in ice cream manufacturing worldwide.

Ice cream’s history

In the 12th century, Marco Polo returned to Italy from his travels to Asia with a recipe that was akin to the modern sherbet. Historians claim that this recipe developed into ice cream during the 16th century. “Cream ice” was known to be a favorite dessert of Charles I during the 17th century. A similar dessert was introduced to France by Catherine de Medici when she married Henry II. Ice cream was first made available to the public around 1660. In the United States, the earliest account of ice cream came from a letter in 1744, and the dessert was first advertised in the New York Gazette in 1777. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were also known to be avid fans of the rare and exotic dessert. In 1851, Jacob Fussell, a milk dealer from Baltimore, began manufacturing ice cream.

America’s favorite brands

In the United States, Breyer’s and Ben & Jerry’s had the highest sales of all ice cream brands. Both brands are owned by Unilever. A recent survey on consumers’ preferred ice cream brands backed up these sales figures, as nearly half of respondents stated that they regularly purchased Breyer’s ice cream.

This statistic depicts the market share of the leading ice cream vendors in the United States in 2017, based on sales. In that year, Ben & Jerry's Homemade hold a market share of 8.7 percent in the United States, based on sales of 477.1 million U.S. dollars. The company owns the popular ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's. Chocolate, vanilla and cookie dough/cookies and cream were among the leading ice cream flavors in the United States in 2013.

In 2023, an estimated seven million people consumed Ben & Jerry's ice cream, making it the leading ice cream brand overall by its number of users. Within the ice cream sector market, Handhelds were the most valuable category in 2022. Handhelds had a total market value of 740 million British pounds, ahead of 347 million British pound premium tub ice cream sector.The United Kingdom was one of the most prolific consumers of ice cream in Europe . 275,000 metric tons of ice cream were sold in the United Kingdom, just behind the 440,000 metric tons sold in Italy. Germans consumed more ice cream than any other European nation, at 560,000 metric tons.

In 2017, the Unilever brand, Ben & Jerry’s had a premium ice cream market share of 29 percent in the United Kingdom. Together with the Unilever’s Carte D’Or, both brands held over 50 percent of the market. Compared to the previous year, the Scottish brand Mackie's was able to increase its market share in the UK by four percent. On the Scottish market the brand held a share of 25 percent.

Premium ice cream

Premium Ice cream has a few distinguishing features from regular ice cream. First, it has a different overrun, which is the term for describing the air that is whipped into ice cream. Premium ice cream has less air particles per ice cream particle. Second, it has a higher percentage of butter fat. Together these factors give premium ice cream a creamier and less crunchy texture, as well as a better taste.

Ice cream market

In 2017, close to a billion British pounds were made with the retail sale of ice cream in Great Britain. About 350 thousand tons of ice cream where sold in retail. Over the past ten years, the sales value rose continuously but sold quantities remained mostly stable. If you want to know more about the ice cream market in the United Kingdom visit our consumer market outlook.

In 2023, sales from the manufacture of ice cream in the United Kingdom amounted to 566 million British pounds. The industry experienced a massive drop in sales from UK manufacturing of ice cream in 2014. It has since rebounded although it has not reached previous highs. Ice cream brands on the British market If all types of ice cream are considered, the most popular brand in Great Britain was Magnum with over 14 million consumers of its classic brand. After Magnum, the next most popular brand was Ben & Jerry’s. If only tubs and blocks are considered, Ben & Jerry’s was the most popular brand followed by Carte D’Or. Volume of the British Ice cream market The retail market volume of ice cream in Great Britain has remained relatively stable but is expected to grow in the coming years. However, the average per capita purchase of ice cream blocks in the UK has fluctuated from 114 grams in 2006 to 104 grams in 2018/19 and back up to 115 grams in 2020/21. In 2021/22, purchases dropped sharply to 87 grams.

In 2023, fair trade ice cream generated around 108.2 million euros in revenue. This was a noticeable decrease compared to the year before.

An online survey of U.S. consumers in 2017 found that Breyer’s is the most regularly purchased brand of ice cream, followed by Ben & Jerry’s.

Top selling ice cream brands Private label ice cream generated the highest dollar sales of any brand of ice cream in the United States. Ben & Jerry’s was the bestselling name brand ice cream in the United States in 2018, followed by Blue Bell.

Non-dairy ice cream With the increasing popularity of veganism as well as better accommodation for those suffering from lactose intolerance, frozen dessert manufacturers are responding by producing coconut, almond, or soy based ice cream. Between 2016 and 2017, dollar sales of non-dairy ice cream increased by a staggering 49 percent, more than any other type of ice cream in the United States. Sorbet, which often contains no dairy, also saw a 3.2 percent increase in sales during that time period.

Breyers was the leading ice cream brand in Canada in 2017, with a 26 percent share of the market. Häagen-Dazs came in second place accounting for around 14 percent of ice cream sales in Canada. Private label or store branded ice cream held a 13 percent share of this market.

Unilever’s brand investment worldwide increased to roughly 8.5 billion dollars in 2023. The company's spending on brand and marketing - including media, advertising production, promotional materials, and consumer engagement - grew from 7.8 billion in the previous year.

Unilever: among the world's largest ad spenders 

In 2021, Unilever was among the three largest advertisers worldwide. Regarding advertising spending, the consumer goods giant ranked only behind Procter & Gamble and Amazon that year. In the United States, Unilever made into the top 10 leading magazine advertisers in 2022, having spent nearly 90 million U.S. dollars to advertise its products in the medium.

Unilever's Dove raise awareness in ads  As of 2022, Dove's campaign "Reverse Selfie" was elected one of the most creative ad campaign worldwide. In its advertisements, Unilever's flagship brand challenged beauty standards spread on social media, which often damage girls' and women's self-esteem. In the same year, Dove got the first position as most advertised personal care brands in the United States, with ad spending of 286 million dollars.