Ice Cream Shop Menu Ideas for 2025

Ice cream shop menu ideas for 2025 offer globally inspired, savory, and nostalgic flavors, like ube, miso, or cereal milk. Start serving innovative desserts beyond scoops, such as ice cream nachos, mochi balls, or personalized “stackers” with unique ingredients. Expand with dietary options (vegan, lactose-free) and seasonal offerings, and encourage customer interaction through contests, workshops, and social media to build brand engagement.   

In today’s article, we will dive into some fresh ice cream shop menu ideas for 2025 to help you stand out and keep customers coming back. 

Let’s take a look at these ice cream shop innovative menu ideas that will surely make your customers melt: 

Every ice cream shop needs the classics, such as vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. But in 2025, these flavors are being upgraded with gourmet ingredients like fresh vanilla bean, rich Belgian chocolate, or fresh strawberry puree. 

You can go even further and add fun toppings like candied pecans, salted caramel drizzle, or even mild wasabi. Old-fashioned desserts are also making a comeback. Banana splits, sundaes, and ice cream sandwiches are back on the menu in 2025 with a modern touch.  

These are some classic flavors that should always be included on your menu: 

• Vanilla  

• Chocolate  

• Cookies and cream 

• Butter pecan 

• Mint chocolate 

• Rum raisin 

• Strawberry 

• Pistachio 

• Banana 

You can put a modern twist on these classic flavors by: 

• Using flavor combinations & pairings – Combine fruity flavors with familiar ones, pair strawberry with lemon zest or add components of your favourite dessert into ice creams. Like adding chunks of donuts to vanilla ice cream. 
• Blending new ingredients with non-traditional preparations – Try adding herbs and spices to elevate your ice creams flavor profile. Combinations like adding ginger to pineapple ice cream are gaining lots of traction in 2025. 
• Introducing new fun textures – Add extras like marshmallows to soft serve to give it that extra touch of softness or add some pretzels to chocolate ice cream for a bit of crunch. 

Some customers are more adventurous and love trying new things. When you’re brainstorming your ice cream menu ideas, consider adding global flavors that are not typically available anywhere else like:  

• Matcha and black sesame 

• Horchata  

• Dulce de leche 

• Olive oil gelato 

• Sweet corn 

• Balsamic strawberry 

• Bacon and maple syrup 

• Crushed wasabi peas 

• Chocolate and aleppo pepper 

More customers are looking for guilt-free treats to include in their daily routine. So, offering dietary friendly ice cream options is no longer optional, it’s a must have. Include popular choices like: 

• Dairy-free alternatives - made with oat, almond, rice, or coconut milk. 

• Low-sugar or keto-friendly scoops – made using natural sweeteners, honey, or no sugar added. 

• Probiotic or protein-packed ice cream – made by enriching the ice cream with live, beneficial probiotic bacteria. 

Personalize your ice cream menu items with nutritional information and allergens using the GloriaFood menu builder. That way, you can keep customers in the know about your ice cream shop menu list. 

Adding allergens and nutritional information to your menu shows your customers you care about them and their diets, which can translate to better brand loyalty and increased profits. 

In 2025, ice cream isn’t just scoops in a cone anymore. Go above and beyond to impress your customers. Try adding: 

• Rolled ice cream – where a liquid cream base is poured onto an extremely cold, flat metal pan, mixed with various ingredients like fruit or candy, and then chopped, spread thin, and scraped to form rolls of ice cream. 

• Liquid nitrogen ice cream – is made by using the extremely cold temperature of liquid nitrogen to flash-freeze an ice cream base, resulting in very small ice crystals and a super smooth, creamy texture. 

• Ice cream tacos – ice cream served in a taco-shaped shell, often made from a waffle cone or fried tortilla, and topped with chocolate, sprinkles, nuts, or other sweet toppings. 

• Ice cream sandwiches – two pieces of a baked good, such as cookies, wafers, or biscuits with ice cream nestled between them. 

• Ice cream stuffed donuts  – donuts or pastries stuffed with ice cream. 

• Boozy ice cream flavors  – alcohol flavoured ice cream for adult customers. Experiment with flavors like Coconut Rum Ice Cream, Vanilla Bean Bourbon or Moscato Ice Cream. 

• Mini flights or sampler platters – let your customers taste multiple flavors at once. 

Menu descriptions do more than just list flavors, they’re supposed to tell stories that tempt your customers’ taste buds before the first bite. A good ice cream shop menu description should help customers imagine textures, aromas, and flavors.  

This enhances the overall dining experience and increases sales by encouraging upsells and making seasonal items stand out.  Use the below words in your ice cream menu description to make it more tempting.  

• Creamy 

• Silky 

• Velvety 

• Smooth 

• Fluffy 

• Sweet 

• Tangy 

• Tropical 

• Mouth-watering 

• Seasonal 

• Classic 

• Signature 

Promotions are a fantastic way for you to keep customers excited year-round. They boost sales during slower periods and create a sense of urgency that drives repeat visits. You can combine flavors and deals to align with regular or seasonal holidays. 

It is particularly important when you create a promotion that it be listed at the top of your menu. That way, it is highly visible to your customers, and they can take full advantage of it. 

Here’s a list of seasonal promotions you can offer your customers: 

• Pumpkin spice sundae special – Here you can offer pumpkin spice sundaes at a discounted rate every Sunday of Fall. 

• Couples share a milkshake – For Valentines Day, you can offer 2-for-1 specials on any red or pink milkshake you offer. 

• Floral florescence – This is a promotion that can be used in spring where you bundle your floral flavoured ice creams (lavender, rose, jasmine, hibiscus etc.) for a special price. 

• Beat the heat happy hour – This is a summer promotion where you can offer half price scoops during your slowest operation times.  

• 12 days of scoops – This promotion attempts to create a sense of urgency during the Christmas holidays. Offer daily limited-time holiday flavors.  Boost sales even more by including a minimum cart value amount to be able to receive a discount.

Beverage pairings for ice cream include coffee for an affogato or with chocolate flavors, spirits like bourbon for vanilla, beer for stout, and sparkling wine for fruity ice creams. 

Add-ons that complement ice cream or pair with it include chocolate, fruit, nuts, and even savory items like potato chips or French fries, enhancing the taste and texture of the dessert. 

Some popular ice cream beverage pairings for 2025 include: 

• Coffee – can be paired with vanilla or chocolate ice cream for a dessert drink.  

• Irish coffee – for chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. 

• Bourbon – works well with vanilla or chocolate ice cream.  

• Wine – sweet reds with cookies and cream, dry whites with pistachio, and crisp whites with lemon ice cream.  

• Prosecco – can be paired with vanilla, non-dairy chocolate chip cookie dough, and strawberry cheesecake ice creams.  

Some popular ice cream add-ons for 2025 include: 

• Chocolate – any type of chocolate as an add-on is a plus, from chocolate sprinkles to chocolate fudge brownie pieces.  

• Fruit – can be paired with ice cream by using fresh fruit, frozen fruit, or any type of fruit syrup. 

• Whipped Cream – works best with sundaes and banana splits. 

• Salty Snacks – like pretzels and potato chips. Adds a salty contrast that complements the ice cream. 

• Graham Crackers and Granola – add a crunchy texture to ice cream.  

• Brownies and Waffles – offer a warm, soft texture to ice cream. 

• Chopped Nuts – can enhance the rich, nutty, and buttery flavors in ice cream.

The addition of toppings in your ice cream shop menu is made super simple with GloriaFood. The intuitive menu editor allows you create several combinations of choices and add-ons that your customers will love. 

You can group all your toppings in a way that is easy to navigate by your customers, for example: 

Crunchy Toppings: 

• Peanuts 

• Pretzels 

• Granola 

• Waffle cones 

Liquid toppings: 

• Honey 

• Caramel 

• Chocolate syrup 

• Fruit juice concentrates 

One major challenge ice cream owners face is serving more in house clients without sacrificing customer experience. 

So how do you improve efficiency and increase revenue without hurrying customers out of their seats? It’s simple, get an ice cream shop POS. A good POS for your ice cream shop should include the following features: 

• Serve more customers daily by enabling QR code orders to be accepted automatically through the POS and sent to the kitchen for preparation. 

• Accept a variety of payment methods such as debit or credit cards, mobile payments, smartwatches, etc.  

• Reduce customer wait time on busy days with an intuitive and friendly user interface and color-coded menu categories

• Quickly edit customer checks with intuitive POS gestures such as: 
  • Swipe to delete an item 

• • Click to increase the number by 1 

• • Long click to reset the quantity 

• Don’t stress about connectivity issues: the Offline Mode allows you to keep processing orders and payments even when the Internet is not working. 

• Increase in-store tips: the dedicated payment devices allow you to set your own tipping percentages or fixed dollar amounts. 

• Manage menu stocks and mark items as sold out so customers don’t get disappointed by ordering something that’s no longer available. 

Now that you’ve crafted your perfect menu, how do you get more customers to see it? 

The best way to do so is to get a sales optimized website with a built-in online ordering  

system. This allows you to showcase your ice cream menu with pictures to your web-based clients.  

With more customers looking for convenience, offering online ordering opens the door to new revenue streams.  

Using an online ordering system like GloriaFood can expand your reach so you can serve more customers wherever they are. Here’s how GloriaFood’s ordering system can help you boost sales: 

• Delivery orders – Create delivery zones and set a minimum order value and delivery fee. Turn your regular employees into delivery drivers and let them earn extra cash for every order they deliver.  

• Scheduled orders – Allow your customers to place orders and pay in advance so that they don’t need to wait at the counter. All they have to do is show up at the time they scheduled and pick up their order. 

• Seasonal & limited-edition promotions – Use the promotions module to feature unique flavors or holiday specials. Create limited-time, online-only offers to encourage impulse purchases and repeat visits. 

• Loyalty programs – For customers with recurring online purchases, you can offer ice cream “subscriptions” (weekly or monthly tubs). Reward loyal customers with a certain number of purchases with digital discounts. 

Follow this step-by-step video tutorial to learn how to set up online ordering in less than 10 minutes: 

Refreshing your ice cream shop menu in 2025 is about blending the familiar with the new. Keep the classics, but experiment with bold flavors, creative types, and unique presentations 

By staying ahead of trends and listening to what your customers want, you will keep your ice cream shop beaming with excitement all year long.