Market share of the leading ice cream manufacturers worldwide 2010 and 2015
Ice cream production - additional information
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. 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, the ice cream manufacturing began with Jacob Fussell, a milk dealer from Baltimore. In 2015, the leading global ice cream manufacturers were Unilever, Nestlé, General Mills and Lotte Group. Unilever accounted to a 19.5 percent market share that year, followed by Nestlé with 11.9 percent.
In 2016, the best-selling ice cream brands in the United States included Breyer’s, Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen Dazs. Private labels generated approximately 1.13 billion U.S. dollars in sales that year.