Swedish furniture store IKEA, renowned for its flat-pack furniture and innovative, modern designs, has announced the launch of vegan strawberry ice cream. The ice cream will be added to the Bistro menu in Europe from April 2019.
IKEA launched vegan hotdogs in 2018, in efforts to reduce their environmental impact and be more inclusive of those leading a plant-based diet. The retailer notes that soft serve ice cream is one the most popular products in their bistro restaurants and the plant-based version offers an alternative to dairy.
Sandra Lindh, commercial manager at IKEA Food Services AB, said: “In the past month, we have been working closely with our supplier to find both the right taste and the perfect texture for this new soft ice. Our ambition was to create a plant-based treat that is as soft, airy and delicious as our popular dairy-based soft ice.”
She added: “It’s an easy, affordable and delicious treat for customers that either need or want to skip dairy products and prefer plant-based food options.”
The vegan ice cream has half the carbon of its dairy counterpart and is flavoured with strawberry purée. IKEA is looking to expand its offerings of plant-based soft serve, with soya and oats as options to create vegan ice cream.
The retailer hopes to introduce the soft serve around the world, with its debut prototypes being offered at the Democratic Design Days in Ӓmhult and the HAVEN festival in Copenhagen.