For over 100 years, ice cream has stood as one of the most popular frozen desserts in the entire United States, and there’s a wide variety of flavors of these frozen treats today. Not only that, but ice cream has some company: frozen sherbet, gelato, frozen yogurt, and more are popular as well, and ice cream containers are out there for different ways to eat them. The classic ice cream waffle cone is still popular today, but ice cream containers also involve dessert cups made of thick, laminated paper and plastic spoons for tidier eating. Some customers at an ice cream shop may want classic cones, while others may choose to have tidy cups and lids as their ice cream containers. This means that any fine ice cream parlor, big or small, will have a variety of ice cream containers, not to mention accessories and dessert machines, on hand.
The Popularity of Frozen Treats
One may first consider how popular ice cream and related desserts are. The answer: very. The NDP Group has determined that in any two-week period, some 40% of Americans will eat ice cream, and 90% of households regularly indulge in sweet frozen treats. An average American will, in fact, eat ice cream 28.5 times every year, and there are plenty of ice cream parlors and ice cream containers to match this hungry market for desserts. For one thing, American dairy farms provide 9% of all of their products just for ice cream production, and June is the busiest month for all ice cream production.
Ice cream may be hard or soft serve, based on its texture, air content, and serving temperature. Ice cream can be served on cones or in cups, but related desserts such as gelato and frozen sherbet are nearly always served in cups with spoons, since they don’t go as well on cones. Gelato tends to have a lower fat content than ice cream, and it is creamier and thicker, too. Frozen yogurt even makes use of edible, live bacteria cultures for flavor. How can all this be served?
A Shop and Its Ice Cream Containers
Ice cream cones, as mentioned earlier, are the classic way to eat ice cream, as many customers enjoy the mildly sweet, crunchy cone as a contrast to the soft and ultra-sweet ice cream itself. This is a classic summer look, and many customers like to share their ice cream cones on image-sharing websites such as Instagram. What some customers might not like, though, is how ice cream cones tend to be on the messy side. It is well known that ice cream scoops on a cone may drip melted ice cream, and scoops might fall off entirely. What is more, a cone is a poor choice for storing leftovers if someone does not finish their cone, and ice cream flavors can’t easily be mixed on the cone.
By contrast, paper cups and plastic spoons and straws are a tidy way to eat ice cream, if the consumer isn’t interested in a waffle cone. In this case, the customer won’t have any leaks or falling scoops, and they can freely mix flavors and condiments in the cup with their spoon. And unlike cones, cups can be fine containers for leftovers at home in the freezer.
A good ice cream parlor will be fully stocked with everything that its customers could want. This includes not only ample ice cream or gelato, but also the machines that make them, such as ice cream mixers. A parlor will also have plenty of waffle cones and paper cups and plastic spoons and straws as well. Some customers may like cones, but others will insist on getting cups instead, especially for gelato and frozen yogurt. Then, after store hours, the ice cream machines can be rinsed with water to clear out all remaining food inside them. The machines can then be taken apart as intended, and the parts can be washed in soapy water and allowed to dry. Then the dried parts can be put back together again. Owners of a new machine may have to consult the user’s manual to find out how to do this until the process is memorized. The same may be done for gelato and frozen yogurt machines.
