Aldi Asda ice cream

Source: Aldi & Asda

Both Aldi and Asda’s low cal ice creams are significantly cheaper than big brands such as Halo Top

Supermarkets are rushing to cash in on the low-calorie ice cream trend, with both Aldi and Asda launching cut-price own-label ranges modelled on US hit Halo Top.

Aldi has launched a pair of high-protein, low-calorie ice creams under its Gianni’s brand in Salted Caramel and Choc Chip Cookie Dough flavours, containing 302 and 352 calories per tub respectively.

By comparison, Halo Top contains between 280-360 calories per tub.

Find out more about The Grocer Own-Label Accreditation Scheme

The Aldi range is made in the UK from British milk and has started to roll out to a limited number of regional stores. It would be available nationwide on 4 March, the discounter said.

At £1.99 for a 480ml tub, it costs less than half the £5 rsp of Halo Top.

Meanwhile, Asda has created its own homage to the low-cal boom, with the launch of three high-protein ice creams in Peanut Butter, Birthday Cake and Vanilla flavours earlier this month, with calorie counts ranging between 332 and 392 per tub.

At £2.50 for a 473ml tub, the Slovenian-made ice creams cost “just a fraction of the price of competitors”, Asda said.

“Ice cream is one of our bestselling products at Asda, and we wanted to make sure there was a healthier alternative on the shelves,” said Asda frozen dessert category planner Hayley Nunan. The new range offered achieved this goal “without compromising on creaminess or taste”, she added.

It comes as Halo Top’s soaring popularity has driven it into the top 10 largest ice cream brands in the UK for the first time, after just over a year on sale in the mults.

The brand is now ranked ninth, after posting sales of £21.1m over the past year [Nielsen 52 w/e 26 January 2019].

Halo Top is now listed in Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl and Iceland.

Read next: Ice cream category report 2019