Little Moons – the pioneers of mochi ice cream – have announced the opening of a new 50,000 sq. ft. production facility in Kettering planned for H1 2024 after filing accounts that show booming demand for their bite-sized, handheld treats led to the business more than doubling turnover in the 18 months ending 30 December 2022.
Broadening distribution across the Top 6 UK grocery customers, multiple new flavour listings and heavyweight marketing support that included TV, Video-on-Demand and a headline partnership with Luna Cinema drove Little Moons to become the 8th largest ice cream brand in the UK and the second fastest growing by units in the Top 10 (IRI, MAT to end Dec 2022).
Outside of Little Moons’ home market, the booming international business complements the continued growth in the UK. The brand’s cult status has seen distribution in France double in the last twelve months as it proves to be the leading mochi ice cream brand in the country. Additionally, key retail partnerships were secured in DACH and new listings including Coop Denmark, Conad and Coop Italy, Meny Norway, El Corte Inglés Spain and Konzum Croatia.
Further afield, the brand’s exclusive launch into Woolworths in Australia in Autumn 2022 has been a fruitful one, generating AU$10m in retail sales and a social media extravaganza. Woolworths will be expanding the range available to consumers from October 2023, including some of the brand’s most popular flavours like Salted Caramel and Iced Latte. Little Moons will be coming to neighbouring country New Zealand in Autumn 2023.
The investment in the new facility comes on the back of the world’s leading consumer-focused private equity group, L Catterton, taking a minority stake in the business in Q1 2022. Designed and built to serve an ambitious growth plan, the state-of-the-art facility will serve Little Moons growing geographic footprint.
In addition to production capacity, Little Moons has also invested in teams on the ground in France and Germany to accelerate growth, as well as a new permanent office space for its head office teams in Farringdon, Central London.
These significant investments in setting the business up to succeed over the next five years are a signal of the commitment that founders Vivien and Howard Wong have to building a powerful global brand in ice cream and sweet treats.
