In the latest salvo to be fired in Taiwan’s summer dessert war, 7-Eleven convenience stores announced on Tuesday that they are introducing “Hokkaido Yubari melon soft ice cream” to do battle with FamilyMart’s popular “mango soft ice cream.”
The soft ice cream, which is served in a crispy, edible cone or cup, has become a bestseller during the hot summer months in Taiwan.
Liang Wen-yuan (梁文源), head of Uni-President Enterprise Co’s fresh food division, said soft serve ice creams have become the 7-Eleven franchise chain’s No. 1 seller.
Photo: Yang Ya-min, Taipei Times
“Each store sells 200 to 300 ice creams on average per day. Some of our high-customer-density stores have sold more than 1,000 in a day,” he said.
With the arrival of sweltering summer days and students enjoying their holidays, 7-Eleven executives have decided to storm the market with the leading Japanese seller this year.
Hokkaido Yubari melon soft ice cream is made from milk and a prized variety of cantaloupe grown in Yubari, Hokkaido, known as the Yubari king melon — also known as one of the most expensive fruits on Earth.
“We held meetings and negotiated with our Japanese counterparts, and the outcome is that Hokkaido Yubari melon soft ice cream will be sold in Taiwan from July 13. The price will be NT$45 per ice cream,” Liang said.
He said the Japanese import is made from cantaloupes that have passed certification by the local agricultural association of Hokkaido’s Yubari region, to verify that the fruit are all 100 percent Yubari king melons.
“The milk used to make the ice cream originates in Hokkaido’s Tokachi region and is processed within 48 hours to become an ingredient for ice cream. Then it is frozen and transported by direct flight to Taiwan,” Liang said.
In the first week after July 13, the new flavor will only be available at 10 selected 7-Eleven stores in northern, central and southern Taiwan, but availability will be expanded in stages to 300 stores, the chain said.
“We expect to break new records for sales of soft serve ice cream in Taiwan,” a 7-Eleven spokesperson said. “Since the introduction of Hokkaido Tokachi milk soft ice cream in October last year, we have equipped 900 of our stores around the nation with soft serve ice cream machines. Up to now, we have sold more than 1.8 million ice creams at our stores.”
A FamilyMart official said that its mango soft ice cream has set an in-house sales record since its introduction last month. It surpassed the sales of strawberry soft ice cream that came on the market at about the time of Valentine’s Day.
“We will introduce two or three new flavors of soft ice cream by the end of the year. There is red-hot competition in the soft ice cream market in Taiwan, which is estimated to generate about NT$5 billion [US$167.3 million] in business annually. It is known as a ‘platinum’ market,” the official said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS