Red Boat Ice Cream invests in lab and NPD
The investment has helped to fund product development for the ice cream maker. This has included a new range of 120ml mini pots of ice-cream and gelato products such as cakes, gelato sticks and filled chocolates.
The new range of products has allowed the supplier to target and grow its business-to-business and retail listings across Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside as well as nationally.
‘Plans for 2021’
Red Boat founder Tony Green said: “We have lots of exciting plans for the business in 2021 including growing our number of stockists not just in Wales and across the region but throughout the UK, launching some fantastic new gelato products and collaborating with a number of other well-known Welsh brands.”
The new ice cream production lab will incorporate a visitor centre to allow people to watch ice cream chefs create gelato and feature an on-site mini parlour.
Red Boat Ice Cream parlours can be found in Beaumaris, Menai Bridge, Prestatyn and Llangefni with a new parlour due to open in spring 2021. It also supplies The National Trust with ice-cream at Plas Newydd and Penrhyn Castle.
Direct to consumer
During the pandemic, Red Boat Ice-cream launched its first direct-to-customer service enabling consumers to order products online, supported by a local delivery service along the A55 corridor. The initial success of the scheme has inspired the company to roll out online sales every Autumn and Winter.
Meanwhile, demand for plant-based foods has seen an increase in launches of vegan ice cream, new data from research company Mintel has revealed.
Research from August last year from the Mintel Global New Product Database indicated vegan variants made up 7% of global ice cream launches in the past 12 months (2019/20), more than double the proportion noted five years ago (2015/16).
