Between 1976 and 1991, the UK experienced the most fertile era of its ice cream culture. Almost everything you find today in a British freezer was born in this period, according to vittlesmagazine.com, which published an essay by writer Ruby Tandoh on the subject.
The kickoff was a simple bet: packaging the iconic ice cream cone. The idea was that any shop could have a pre-made, perfect cone, with syrup that neither freezes nor drips, and ice cream that doesn’t fall off the cone.
An Italian manufacturer named Spica already had the formula in 1959. The secret was in the cone: crispy wafer with a slanted cut, coated internally with chocolate and coconut oil, creating a moisture-proof barrier. The ice cream was also special: a compact vegetable fat emulsion that melts quickly and smoothly.
In Italy, the product was a success. But in the UK, the debut in the 1960s failed. The turnover in a corner shop in Bolton wasn’t like that in Rimini, and the ice cream didn’t survive transport.
It took ten years of chemical adjustments to reach the ideal point: an ice cream with Teflon properties, resistant to the freezer, but melting in the mouth. Unilever, owner of Wall’s, bought the recipe. In the summer of 1976, the Cornetto arrived in British shops.
Nearly 7 million Cornettos were sold that summer, one of the hottest on record. In the same year, Baskin-Robbins and Dayvilles chains entered the market, getting the public used to paying up to 25p for a cone. Wall’s invested in marketing with the song ‘Just One Cornetto’.
Within a decade, the Cornetto gained strawberry, mint, and rum raisin versions, selling 70 million units per year. It became the most popular ice cream in British history.
From there, a wave of innovations: Mini Milks (1976), Funny Feet (1980), Twister (1982), Viennetta (1982), Calippo (1982), Feast (1983), Mars (1988), Carte d’Or (1990), and crowning the period, the Magnum (1990), today the most popular ice cream in the world.
This explosion is not mysterious. Innovation on an industrial scale comes in waves, driven by economic changes, mergers, and acquisitions. In the 1930s, it was chocolate, with Mars, Snickers, KitKat, and others. Recently, we’ve seen the same with potato chip flavors.
The golden age of ice cream lasted only fifteen years, but it was the biggest explosion of British industrial food culture in half a century.
Before that, in the late 19th century, Italian vendors offered ‘penny lick’ on the streets, with reused glasses cleaned with an old cloth. In the 1930s, Lyons made elaborate ice cream cakes, like the Trocadero Wonder Gateau.
In World War II, Wall’s, originally a sausage maker, already sold ice cream from tricycles. But the war restricted the use of dairy and sugar. In the 1950s, ice cream was basic: bricks, cups, and rectangular popsicles.
With the end of rationing in 1954, purchasing power increased. The tricycle fleets gave way to vans and convenience stores. Wall’s, which sold 90% on the street, moved to selling 90% in physical store freezers, with exclusivity.
The first technologically advanced ice creams were simple, like the Mivvi from Lyons Maid, from 1959. But they already used complex technologies for the time.
The lesson of this story, according to vittlesmagazine.com, is that food innovation on an industrial scale happens in rapid bursts, transforming habits forever. Modern British ice cream is the fruit of those fifteen golden years.