Business
Sunshine salvages season for makers of summer treats
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July 25th, 2012
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This article is more than 12 years old.
Ice cream and koldskål sales took a hit in June, but things are looking up this week, as temperatures climb
A perfect Danish summer’s day often begins with a bowl of buttermilk treat koldskål and ends with a refreshing ice cream – two pleasures many Copenhageners will indulge in this week as the temperature reaches its peak for the year.
The mercury is set to hit 29 degrees today, a welcome change from last month, when Denmark copped its worst June weather in 25 years, according national weather service DMI.
Two food manufacturers reliant on sunshine – dairy cooperative Arla, and ice cream chain Paradis – are hopeful that this week’s good weather will help offset their June losses.
On its biggest day of production this week, Arla’s Slagelse facility will produce 100,000kg of koldskål, a which is normally flavoured with vanilla and lemon, and eaten with small biscuits. The amount is quadruple the amount it produced per day last week, said Arla spokesperson Theis Brøgger.
“During the summer, we have to be two days ahead of the weather so we are always looking intently at the weather forecast so we can get fresh koldskål to the stores,” he said.
Last month, Arla’s koldskål recorded its worst June sales and production figures in seven years.
“We’re really rooting for a warm or hot August to make up for the ground we lost in June,” Brøgger said.
After a similarly quiet June for Paradis, project manager Rie Nybye said she and her team were thrilled to see some sunshine coming their way.
“Buying an ice cream is often an impulsive thing to do and when the sun isn’t there, people won’t buy one,” she said.
Rasmus Hansen was eating a dripping lime sorbet, ferrero rocher and liquorice ice cream when he spoke with The Copenhagen Post this afternoon.
“I’ve only had two ice creams for the whole summer because of the lousy weather,” he said, adding that he might demolish a third one before the week is out.
But Hansen had better be quick with that ice cream because the weather is set to take a turn for the worse on Saturday when 12 milimetres of rain is predicted and the temperature is forecast to drop to 18 degrees.
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