Why is ice cream so expensive? The rise of the $8 cone.

https://archive.is/YvOGp

From the article:

Ice cream, once an everyday, affordable source of joy, has morphed into a luxury good, violating our fundamental summertime right to cold and creamy salvation. In the US, prices at scoop shops have jumped more than 35% since 2019, when the average cost of a cone was about $4.50, according to Technomic, a research firm. “It’s not just driven by one factor,” says David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University, citing the Covid-19 pandemic, social media, the job market, tariffs, war, the K-shaped economy and a slew of other socioeconomic forces. “It’s sort of this perfect storm.” It’s not uncommon for an ice cream shop to charge more than $8 for a couple of scoops; multiply that by four for a family, and parents now paying the price of a small meal are left wondering: Is this inflation, price gouging, or have we simply reached peak cone?

Long before inflation chaos arrived, an enterprising corner of the ice cream industry engineered its first big pricing leap. For years the dessert was served at neighborhood scoop shops for a few bucks or less and sold in half-gallon tubs at the supermarket. Then came the first generation of premium brands including Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s, with higher butterfat content and fancier flavors. In the early 2000s, not long after chocolate, coffee and beer got the superpremium overhaul, charging more for, say, small-batch production and ingredients with provenance, ice cream entrepreneurs started doing the same. Soon enough, Van Leeuwen, Jeni’s, Salt & Straw and other pricier brands emerged, boasting high-end ingredients and creative, sometimes-questionable flavors, including fish sauce caramel and pizza, along with prices that could surpass $10 a pint. “That kind of broke a lot of economic principles,” Ortega says.

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During the pandemic, demand soared, as did premium pint sales. “A lot of people were looking for that self-care,” says Jacob Posada, an analyst for industry research firm IBISWorld. “Like ‘Let me get a small little treat to reward myself.’ ” As consumers embraced ever-pricier pints, costs were climbing too. Supply chain shocks and inflation caused the cost of ingredients to skyrocket: From 2020 to 2025, wholesale prices for dairy rose 20%, cocoa jumped more than 300% and eggs spiked more than 600%. At the same time, wages started increasing, especially in hospitality jobs such as food service.

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Still, from 2020 through 2024, premium ice cream sales were on a tear. More shops opened, lines got longer, flavors got weirder, prices rose. But the lower end of the market has been struggling, with chains such as Dairy Queen, Friendly’s and Baskin-Robbins closing locations. Even Mister Softee hit a rocky road, cutting the number of trucks from thousands to about 600.

Now new problems are creating economic headwinds for the industry. Ice cream uses a lot of energy: It needs to be shipped in refrigerated trucks, stored in energy-guzzling freezers and sold in air-conditioned shops or out the windows of diesel-powered trucks. Data center demand has pushed electricity costs up more than 6% in just the past year, and the war with Iran has increased diesel prices more than 50%. “It’s been very shocking,” says Townsend of Millie’s.

All this poses a particular problem for shops, which can’t afford to wait it out. Scoop season runs only between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and shops have to pad their prices to try to prepare for whatever economic storms may come. “We only make money for about four months out of the year,” says Molly Moon, owner of her eponymous Seattle chain. “It’s a cash-flow management game. We’re squirrels.” Whatever Moon can stash away this summer will have to sustain her business through next May, even with continued uncertainty about oil prices, tariffs and overall inflation. During the pandemic, Moon increased her single-scoop price about 20% due to higher costs. Now she’s resisting; so far, only her pints and kids’ scoops are going up.

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Those who can afford it continue seeking out this kind of splurge wherever possible. Dominique Ansel Bakery, the home of the Cronut, sells—and regularly sells out of—a vanilla ice cream cone dipped in gourmet French butter and sprinkled with fleur de sel. Riding the latest iteration of a frozen yogurt boom, ice cream-adjacent Culture Cream regularly has lines snaking around the block for its frozen yogurt made with “specially selected live probiotic cultures,” which runs $10 for a medium cup. For the past few years, indie ice cream brands, including Betty Jo’s Ice Cream in New York and Henry’s Secret Ice Cream in Los Angeles, which don’t have storefronts, have been arranging monthly “pint drops” for devoted followers. The pints can cost more than $20 each, and social media is full of fans sampling the coveted flavors. “People want ice cream to be an event,” says Posada, the analyst. “Seasonal flavors or limited-edition flavor drops, like Dubai chocolate, drive people to come.”