Ben & Jerry’s New Flavors Jump on the Plant-Based Bandwagon
The future of desserts is dairy-free, and Ben & Jerry’s is heeding the call.
The historically crunchy (socially, not texturally) company is expanding its line of non-dairy frozen desserts with new sunflower butter- and almond-based offerings.
Four of the vegan, nut-free flavors are now shipping at MSRPs of $4.48 to $5.99:
- "Milk" & Cookies: Vanilla with chocolate chip cookies, chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate cookie swirls
- Crème Brûlée Cookie: Burnt caramel with brown sugar cookies and salted caramel swirls
- Mint Chocolate Cookie: Mint with chocolate sandwich cookies
- Cold Brew Coffee Fudge Chip: Cold brew with fudge flakes and a fudge swirl (only available at Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops)
It will also ship this spring two new almond-based, portion-controlled non-dairy Mini Cups. The single-scoop-sized cups will be available in P.B. & Cookies (vanilla with chocolate cookies and peanut butter) and Caramel Chocolate Chunk (caramel with fudge chips and a salted caramel swirl), the latter of which is a new flavor only available in this format.
The dairy-free ice cream market is expected to reach $1.2 billion worldwide by 2025, according to Grand View Research, in part driven by raised awareness of health issues and incidences of lactose intolerances.
More than 25 percent of Ben & Jerry’s flavor lineup are non-dairy, and the wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever and certified B Corp company claims to be the first national brand offering pints of sunflower butter-based frozen desserts. CEO Matthew McCarthy called plant-based eating one of the biggest trends in the world.