In 2023, Ben & Jerry’s was the leading ice cream brand in the United States, based on sales of *** 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 *** billion U.S. dollars. Considering the total U.S. ice cream market generated a revenue of **** 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 *** million units, over double Ben & Jerry’s *** 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 **** kilograms of ice cream annually.

According to a 2024 survey, vanilla was the most popular ice cream flavor among respondents in the United States. Chocolate and strawberry followed in second and third places in the ranking, respectively.

With unit sales of approximately *** 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 *** 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 ********* 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 *** million U.S. dollars in 2023.

This graph shows the market share of the leading ice cream brands of the United States in 2017, based on generated sales. In that year, Häagen-Dazs captured a market share of 8.4 percent in the United States. The famous ice cream brand generated sales of about 461.3 million U.S. dollars in 2017. Chocolate, vanilla and cookie dough/cookies and cream were among the leading ice cream flavors in the United States in 2013.

Ice cream

Ice cream belongs to the frozen dessert category and serves as an indulgent snack for those who fancy something sweet. 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. Creamy options are based on dairy products such as milk or cream. In the retail landscape, ice cream is sold through different retail channels or specialized ice cream shops or parlors. In the retail aisles, consumers would find ice cream packaged in different sizes, mainly in bulk (gallons or pints) or as bars. Some ice cream suppliers offer seasonal ice cream flavors besides their year-round portfolio in order to meet consumer’s demand of diversification. In addition to private label products, companies shaping the industry include Nestlé Dreyer’s Ice Cream Co., Good Humor/Breyers Ice Cream, Ben & Jerry's Homemade and Wells Enterprises. At specialized ice cream shops or parlors, consumers may order their desired flavors as scoops and combine them with further mix-ins and toppings. Famous U.S. ice creamery chains comprise Cold Stone Creamery and Häagen-Dasz. The Cold Stone Creamery was founded in 1988 and is currently headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 2024, Nestlé was the leading frozen novelty brand, generating sales of almost *********** U.S. dollars. After Nestlé, private label brands accounted for *********** dollars in sales. The frozen novelty brands market in the U.S. The frozen novelty category consists of separately packaged frozen desserts such as ice cream sandwiches, fudge sticks, or juice bars. The desserts are available from a range of supermarkets, ice cream trucks, and convenience stores. Haagen Dazs was the fourth leading frozen novelty brand in the United States, based on sales of about *********** U.S. dollars, but experienced a sales increase of **** percent compared to the previous year, making it the fastest growing in the category. Segment leader Nestlé experienced a growth of ****percent in the same time period.

Amongst the leading ice cream brands in Canada in 2017, Breyers had the highest retail sales at approximately ***** million U.S. dollars. Häagen-Dazs came in second with around ***** million U.S. dollars worth of sales.

For the 52 weeks ended in February 2025, frozen meals were the largest frozen food category with sales of over ** billion U.S. dollars. Frozen foodsFrozen foods are industrially manufactured foods that are preserved through freezing methods. Supermarket aisles of the frozen food market carry subcategories including frozen dinner and entrées (multi-serve and single-serve), ice cream and sherbets, frozen pizza, frozen breakfast foods, frozen snacks and appetizers, vegetables, and frozen desserts. Frozen foods must be stored at a temperature of -18 degrees Celsius or less. The first attempts at freezing foods date back to around the 15th century, but the real beginning of the refrigeration business has gone hand in hand with the development of the refrigerating machine by Carl Linde in 1874. However, it took several more years before the first ready-to-eat dinner had been created during the 50's by Gerry Thomas, also known as the ‘TV-dinner’. It was intended to be warmed up straight in the oven and then to be enjoyed in front of the television. The original TV dinner was packaged in an aluminum tray similar to those used for airline food service. Based on a Thanksgiving dinner as model, it comprised of a 3-component meal of turkey, mashed sweet potatoes and buttered peas accompanied with gravy and corn bread dressing. In particular, the convenient meal targeted the busy wives who had at the time begun to enter the labor market. Today, time-pressed customers are still searching for convenient products that are simple and easy to prepare when they buy frozen foods at a store. Industry experts assume that category sales will increase in the coming years with healthier choices and industry trends such as ‘Better-for-you’ products and products containing natural and organic ingredients.

The revenue in the 'Ice Cream' segment of the food market in the United States was modeled to stand at 14.27 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Following a continuous upward trend, the revenue has risen by 4.07 billion U.S. dollars since 2018. Between 2024 and 2030, the revenue will rise by five billion U.S. dollars, continuing its consistent upward trajectory.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Ice Cream.

In the third quarter of 2024, sales of Unilever's ice cream segment increased by 9.8 percent, and continued to increase by 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter of the same year, supported by operational improvements and innovations.

In 2025, General Mills’ global net sales amounted to almost ***** billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of around *** million U.S. dollars compared to the previous year. The fiscal year-end of the company is the last Sunday in May. General Mills worldwide General Mills, Inc. is an American food company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Beginning over 150 years ago, the company now sells various types of food products, such as baking mixes, ice cream, and pet food, across the globe. In 2024, General Mills’ top-selling product categories included snacks, cereal, and convenient meals. North America Retail The company’s largest global operating segment by far was its North America Retail segment: almost ***** billion U.S. dollars of net sales was generated within this segment in 2024, while all other segments generated between *** ********* billion. The company’s North America Retail segment consists of a number of divisions, the largest of which being the U.S. Meals & Baking division. This division alone generated over *** billion U.S. dollars’ worth of net sales in 2024.

In 2024, Frito Lay was the leading potato chips vendor in the United States, based on sales of over *** billion U.S. dollars. Ruffles was the next best selling chip at *** billion dollars. Potato chips industry in the United States - additional information Although the exact origins of potato chips are disputed, they have become a staple snack food around the world and are associated with the U.S. American culture just as much as chewing gum and peanut butter. According to industry representatives, not only is the potato chip more than 160 years old, but the potato chip industry itself can be traced back to 1895, when the product first became available in grocery stores. A recent survey showed that potato chips are Americans' second snack food of choice, more so than chocolate, cheese or ice cream.