As the UK’s largest cream producer, Arla’s fresh cream production increased from an average of 1.32m pots a week to 6.27m as households began getting ready for the festive season.
This was in addition to the 4.4m pots of seasonal alcohol and flavored cream that were produced for the holidays.
Developing flavored creams
Most of the production took place at Arla’s Stourton (Leeds) and Oakthorpe (London) sites, with teams at two other sites on stand-by to give additional support as required.
As well as the traditional brandy cream, the festive Christmas cream season now includes variants such as Champagne Cocktail, Channel Island Clementine and Cointreau Cream.
The flavors are researched and developed by Arla’s new product development teams who spend a year looking at retail, customer and market insights to respond to consumer trends.
This year’s favorites included toffee & pecan, gingerbread, and stem ginger.