Every year, SIGEP in Italy sets the stage for the latest trends, innovations, and insights in the world of gelato, ice cream, and chocolate. It’s a must-attend event for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve, featuring groundbreaking advancements in ingredients, equipment, and consumer trends. This year’s event was no exception, showcasing exciting new product trends, game-changing equipment solutions, and valuable strategies for small business owners. The Artisan Industrial team attended the event, and brought back all the best insights, tips and trends for you to implement into your business in the coming year.
The most exciting trends in gelato, ice cream, and chocolate
One of the biggest takeaways from SIGEP this year was the rise of inclusions – specifically gelato and ice cream featuring more mix-ins, toppings, and sauces than ever before. Whether it’s generous swirls of nut paste, chocolate chunks, or even entire cookies and candy pieces, customers are focussing on indulgence and that feeling of getting ‘more’.
The Inside Scoop: Inclusions are a great way to set yourself apart and offer something truly unique. Think about what you could add to your ice cream or gelato that would make it different, without putting too much pressure on your staff or production line.
On the other side of the spectrum, was the trend towards ice cream and gelato shops embracing simplicity, offering a limited range of traditional Italian flavours like stracciatella and pistachio. This allows stores to focus on quality, and create a sense of demand due to the limited offering.
Other noteworthy trends for 2025 –
- Chocolate-covered frozen fruit has become incredibly popular due to its health benefits and versatility. Unlike chocolate bars or tubs of ice cream, which are typically eaten as desserts, these snack options can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Plus, you could sell them on their own or pair them with ice cream.
- Chocolate-dropping machines are also trending, making it easy to add chocolate to your ice cream and gelato range.
- Pistachios were also significantly popular. Pistachio paste inside and on top of ice cream and gelato is definitely a trend to consider for ice cream and gelato stores.
The biggest new innovations in ingredients, equipment and processes
One standout innovation at SIGEP was Telme’s Power Lab, a new solution designed to bridge the gap between artisan and industrial production. This modular system integrates multiple pieces of equipment into one streamlined setup, allowing businesses to increase capacity while maintaining artisan quality. A particularly exciting feature is the new dosing system, which fills containers directly from a batch freezer, simplifying production for small to medium businesses by offering precise portion control, minimising waste, and increasing efficiency. For artisan producers looking to scale, these innovations provide a way to boost output without sacrificing quality or having to invest in a fully automated line.
Keeping up with consumer preferences
One of the most noticeable trends is the growing demand for individually portioned desserts. Whether it’s single-serve cups, sticks, or mini gelato sandwiches, consumers are gravitating toward smaller, high-quality servings over bulk tubs. This shift is likely driven by a mix of health consciousness and convenience.
The Inside Scoop: For businesses, this means adapting production to accommodate smaller portion sizes. Equipment like Telme’s new dosing system is a perfect example of how manufacturers are responding to this trend, allowing producers to efficiently create single-serve products without excessive labour costs.
The topic of how frozen yoghurt, açaí, and soft serve tend to come and go in waves of popularity was also discussed. These products often spike in popularity when marketed to children and young adults, especially with self-serve options and customisable fruit toppings that create a perception of healthiness. However, once demand fades, they quickly disappear, making them an unpredictable addition to an ice cream shop.
New strategies to keep your businesses competitive
For small businesses, profitability isn’t just about increasing prices. The opportunity here is improving efficiency. While large-scale automation might not be feasible for an artisan business, investing in smaller, targeted equipment upgrades can significantly cut labour costs and improve production times.
The Inside Scoop: Find equipment that slots into your existing production process and makes your production line more efficient in some way. For example, for a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, a pre-refiner reduces the time needed for refining, speeding up processing and reducing labor.
Business opportunities to speed up growth
A noteworthy trend that stood out here was the power of collaboration as a marketing tool. Businesses are seeing huge success by partnering with complementary brands to create unique, high-value products.
For example, a gelato shop could partner with a bakery that makes fresh croissants in the morning, to create a croissant gelato sandwich by adding a scoop of gelato and a drizzle of high-quality chocolate sauce. This type of collaboration leverages the strengths of both businesses, offers a novel product, and helps attract new customers. Plus it’s not a burden on your production line.
The Inside Scoop: Consider which local businesses you could collaborate with to create a unique and interesting product. It could be that popular cookie store round the corner, or that organic fruit store everyone is raving about.
Biggest learning from SIGEP
The key learning from SIGEP 2025 was the fact that if small business owners could focus on just one thing for 2025, it would be quality. Consumers are becoming more discerning, and businesses that prioritise high-quality ingredients and in-house production will stand out in the market. The more a business can produce from scratch – whether that’s gelato bases, nut pastes, or inclusions – the more control they have over flavour, texture, and product differentiation.
Another major takeaway is the importance of environmentally friendly packaging. You may not think it, but even the smallest packaging details matter, from the paper used to wrap a croissant to the recyclability of gelato tubs. While the sustainability conversation is complex, consumers are paying attention, and businesses that make genuine efforts in this area will benefit from stronger brand loyalty.
Winning in 2025
This year’s SIGEP event reinforced the idea that staying competitive in gelato, ice cream, and chocolate is about keeping up with trends and investing in quality, efficiency, and brand differentiation. The key to winning in 2025 is to focus on what makes your business unique, investing in equipment that improves efficiency, and never compromising on the quality of your product.
As leaders in premium European equipment for the chocolate, gelato, and ice cream industries, we’re committed to keeping our clients at the forefront of their industry. We don‘t just provide world-class expertise like the insights above, we’re also the preferred ice cream, gelato and chocolate equipment suppliers to artisan and commercial-sized businesses across Australia and Oceania. So get in touch with us and let’s talk about how we can help your business thrive.
