The Mr. Whippy ice cream truck was spotted in Brighton Beach.
Brits living on the south coast of England can get their hands on Mr. Whippy-style vegan ice cream this summer.
A Mr. Whippy ice cream truck was spotted in Brighton Beach last weekend. The menu features a special “vegan corner.”
Vegan options include Magnum non-dairy ice cream bars in two flavors: classic and almond. The truck also offered two vegan flavors of Ben & Jerry’s.
The Mr. Whippy franchise, a company that sold soft-serve ice cream from a van, originated in the UK in the late 1950s. It is now a genericized trademark and many companies have similar business models today.
Husband-and-wife duo Sam and Hana Deavoll launched a vegan Mr. Whippy-style ice cream truck in New Zealand last April. The truck—named Vice Cream—serves dairy-free coconut soft-serve across Queenstown.
“We started Vice Cream […] as a passion project and because our kids love dairy-free ice cream,” the couple wrote on Instagram.
The couple said they also founded the vegan ice cream truck after being “disheartened” by the animal cruelty and environmental degradation prevalent in the country’s dairy industry.
“[M]illions of baby calves that are killed as waste products each year,” they explained. They continued: “Vice Cream is our action to help create a better world by providing alternative options that are friendlier to the planet, the animals, and our health,”
Conventional soft-serve ice cream contains animal-derived ingredients, including milk and whey. As consumer habits shift away from animal products in favor of more plant-based foods, companies are evolving in order to meet the growing demand.
As a result, the dairy-free ice cream market is thriving. According to research firm Global Market Insights, non-dairy ice cream sales are expected to surpass $1 billion globally by 2024.
There are now a number of vegan on the market churning out delectable frozen desserts—such as So Delicious, Oatly, and Cado. For a complete guide to vegan ice cream brands click here.
IKEA is even getting in on the vegan soft-serve. In 2018, Malaysian locations of furniture giant removed dairy-based soft-serve from its stores completely and replaced it with a vegan version instead.
This post was last modified on December 15, 2020 6:31 am