Mackie's has ice cream market licked as sales grow

Mac Mackie, managing director at Mackie's of Scotland. Picture: Contributed

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Ice cream maker Mackie's of Scotland has bucked an industry downturn with a healthy rise in its full-year sales.

The Aberdeenshire firm, which also makes a range of chocolate bars, said turnover had risen by 8.3 per cent on the previous year to just over £13 million.

As a result, the family-owned business now commands about 2 per cent of the total UK market for ice cream, measured by volume. A recent report by market intelligence agency Mintel pointed to a notable dip in ice cream and dessert sales, across the UK, with an estimated reduction of 6 per cent in annual volumes since 2011.

Managing director Mac Mackie, one of three sibling owners of Mackie’s of Scotland, said: “We’re starting to make progress, taking a few wee bites out of the pan-global big boys and that’s heartening to see. Particularly as we still produce everything we need, from energy and packaging to the rich cream for our ice cream, at our ancestral farm in Aberdeenshire.”

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He added: “It’s clear that consumers are moving away from mass-produced impersonal ice cream and moving towards products made with care and attention, focusing on great flavours, locality and a smooth texture.”

The firm, which churns out more than ten million litres of dairy ice cream a year, recently added a dedicated £600,000 chocolate factory to its Aberdeenshire home farm. On the back of its initial deals with Tesco and Sainsbury’s, new domestic contracts are coming on board this year, including one with the Co-op.

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