Oct 13, 2025, 9:27 PM

Ice Cream Trends in Canada 2025: Soft-Serve, Gelato, Milkshakes

From year-round soft-serve to premium gelato and thick milkshakes, see the 2025 ice cream trends in Canada. Data, regional tips, menu ideas, and how Taylor® programmes fit.

By Nicole Camposeo-Cheung

Canadians aren’t waiting for summer. Soft-serve, gelato, and milkshakes are performing year-round, while plant-based, premium inclusions, and limited-time flavours keep baskets growing. Below is a practical, data-first guide you can lift straight into your Ontario or Atlantic Canada operation. Ready to turn trends into margin?

1) The market at a glance

Category size: Industry trackers peg Canada’s ice cream market around USD 1.58B in 2024, with modest CAGR through 2033. Production-side views (factory gate) show ≈ CAD 1.2B in 2025, which excludes retail mark-ups and out-of-home scoops. Different lenses, same message: stable demand with premium and non-dairy pockets of growth. (IMARC Group)
What Canadians actually order with delivery: Platform roundups keep fries at the top for sides on Uber Eats Canada, while Butter Chicken repeated as Skip’s most-ordered dish in 2024. Useful when pairing dessert promos with mains. (Uber)

2) What’s rising for 2025

Soft-serve goes premium, year-round. Cones and swirls aren’t just summer—operators are running winter LTOs and dipped cones to drive PM dayparts. Pair with flavour add-ins or swirl systems for variety.

Gelato = artisanal signal. Display-case gelato (and sorbetto) is winning on texture and photogenic pans. Smaller urban footprints are opting for compact cases and tight rotating menus.

Milkshake momentum. Thick shakes and dessert “sippers” create trade-up moments after lunch and late night. Consider a core trio (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry) plus one rotating LTO.

Plant-based keeps a seat. Even when dairy leads, oat- or coconut-based soft-serve, gelato, or shakes reduce vetoes for groups.

Collabs & nostalgia. Seasonal flavours and co-branded desserts keep the calendar fresh. National chains continue to launch limited flavours that spike search and social. (Allrecipes)

Gelato ice cream made by a Taylor machine.

3) Regional notes for Ontario & Atlantic Canada

GTA + Southern Ontario: Higher traffic, strong milkshake attach in QSR and convenience. Winter dipped-cone promos work when priced as add-ons.
Halifax, Moncton, Charlottetown, St. John’s: Summer surge, but afternoon hot-coffee + soft-serve “affogato” holds in colder months. Cross-merch with bakery and hot beverages.

TFI Food Equipment Solutions supports Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador with sales, installs, training, leasing/rentals, and OEM-parts service.

Soft-serve: Vanilla + chocolate + twist; add dipped cones, crushed-candy rolls, and two monthly flavours.
Gelato: 8–12-pan lineup with 1–2 dairy-free sorbetti. Feature a Canadian flavour (maple, Nanaimo-bar riff) and one global profile.
Milkshakes: Core trio hot-and-iced; add a premium “chef’s shake” with inclusions (cookie crumble, brownie ribbon).
Coffee crossovers: Affogato over soft-serve; mocha-gelato shakes for afternoon lift.

A person holding a soft serve ice cream cone.

5) Pick the tool for the trend (and protect margin)

Commercial soft-serve machines (Canada): Taylor® countertop or freestanding units with optional flavour systems; ideal for QSR and c-store. Taylor programmes typically deliver 70–80% gross profit with 6–18 month payback when traffic and pricing are set correctly.
Batch freezers for gelato: Produce small, frequent batches with inclusions and control overrun for dense texture.
Commercial milkshake machines: High-throughput shake platforms keep queues moving in drive-thru.

Browse current soft-serve, milkshake, and batch options in our product lineup.

A selection of Taylor commercial ice cream machines, available in both countertop and floor models, designed for high-volume use in restaurants, cafés, and ice cream shops. These machines ensure smooth, consistent soft-serve production for a variety of frozen treats.

6) How to act on these trends (fast)

Cash-flow-friendly options: Lease or rent to stand up programmes before peak season; use service cover to lock uptime.

Lease-to-own with quick approvals across Canada.
Flexible rentals on used and demo units (month-to-month to 12–60 months).
Certified used inventory when you need value now.
TFI Total Care monthly service cover for PM visits, priority response, training, and no overtime charges.
24/7 field repair by factory-trained, annually certified technicians using OEM parts.

Ice Cream Trend FAQs

What is the most popular ice cream in Canada?

By flavour, a national survey (Narrative Research) showed chocolate as Canadians’ favourite, with vanilla close behind. Local favourites vary—Nova Scotians famously love Moon Mist. (Global News)

How big is the ice cream market in Canada?

Retail-level estimates put it around USD ~1.6B in 2024, growing modestly. Production-side sizing is ≈ CAD 1.2B in 2025. The two figures differ because one measures consumer spend and the other factory output. (IMARC Group)

What is a Canadian’s favorite ice cream?

Survey data points to chocolate, with vanilla and mint-chocolate also ranking highly. (Global News)

What is the #1 selling ice cream?

Canada doesn’t publish flavour sales nationally. Surveys show chocolate leading on preference; globally, vanilla often leads by sales in many chains and grocers. For brand share, Unilever is the largest producer in Canada. (Global News)

What’s the #1 ice cream flavor?

In Canadian polling: chocolate. In many international reports: vanilla is frequently the top seller. Both should be core SKUs, with one seasonal rotation. (Global News)

Person dispensing vanilla and blue swirl soft serve ice cream into a cone using a Taylor commercial soft serve machine.

Quick operator checklist (Ontario & Atlantic Canada)

Add a year-round soft-serve bundle (cone + drink).
Launch one gelato LTO per month; keep 2 sorbetti for dairy-free.
Run a premium milkshake at a higher price point; upsell whipped cream and mix-ins.
Finance with leasing or rentals; wrap uptime with TFI Total Care.

Ready to model ROI or book a demo?

TFI Food Equipment Solutions supplies commercial soft serve machines, batch freezers for gelato, and commercial milkshake machines across Ontario and Atlantic Canada, with install, training, and OEM-certified service. Get a quote or book a kitchen demo in Mississauga or Dartmouth and we’ll map trends to equipment, staffing, and payback.

Nicole Camposeo-Cheung

Nicole Camposeo-Cheung is the Director of Marketing, People & Culture at TFI Food Equipment Solutions, Canada’s leading provider of premium commercial foodservice equipment. She combines her expertise in business management and fashion arts to foster a dynamic, innovative, and people-centric corporate culture. Passionate about empowering teams, building strong client relationships, and driving growth through creativity and collaboration, Nicole plays a key role in shaping TFI’s brand and workplace culture. She also shares her industry expertise and insights through the TFI blog, helping foodservice professionals stay informed about the latest trends, best practices, and innovations in commercial food equipment.