London 11 August : Ice cream producers have seen sales double this week due to the heat wave that is which is sweeping across Britain has triggered a surge in demand. The Meteorological Office issuing an extreme warning of severe weather starting on Thursday with temperatures that exceed 30 degrees Celsius and supermarkets are getting ready for a huge weekend, as reported by the DPA news agency.
Smaller businesses are struggling to keep up, with at least one family-owned business working longer hours to ensure that orders are running.
A spokesperson for Mrs Dowsons Ice Cream said: “We’ve been extremely busy with orders.in a time like this with the heatwave I’d say that they’ve increased by more than double”
The company has seen people coming to the farm store, which operates out of Blackburn, Lancashire, along with an increase in the demand from wholesale customers.
“The Ice-cream shop on the website definitely gets more busy on hot days,” the spokeswoman continued.
“In the case of wholesale clients, you’ll get lots of customers who call at the last minute, saying “we’re very overwhelmed with the weather.
are we able to place last-minute orders?'”
The traditional flavors have proved popular this week however, in the sign of Britons diversifying towards more adventurous options as well, it has also introduced its amaretto with black cherry and peardrop.
In the same way, Waitrose ice cream buyer Joe Sharkey said its No 1 Colombian Coffee brand had proved a popular choice for customers during the heatwave.
Mrs Dowsons keeps track of Met Office heat warnings as an indicator of demand and has strengthened its supply chain in case temperatures begin to rise later this week.
“We’re certainly prepared for temperatures like this with vans and drivers and everything else,” the spokeswoman said.
However, the employees of one family-owned company are working “longer working hours” to deal with the growing demands from wholesale customers.
Julia Lewis, of Chester-based L Lewis, said: “It’s just an increase of becoming busier since the people are getting out of stocks and are looking for more stock.
“They’ve reached the point that they’ll need to replenish faster.There’s more stock available and there are an increase in orders.”
The Met Office has issued an amber heat alert that runs from Thursday and Sunday.This could see temperatures reach 36 ° Celsius in southern England and the eastern part of Wales.
Supermarkets expect this to boost the demand even more, with Sainsbury’s forecasting a 120 percent rise in sales of cones of ice cream.
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