Best in UK and Ireland

The Morelli family who have businesses in Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine have won two prestigious awards for their Irish double cream vanilla ice cream at The National Ice Cream Competitions.

Their double success also made history in the competitions as no company has ever managed to retain these two titles from one year to the next.

Their success follows on from last year when the Morelli’s ice cream was voted the Champion of Champions.

Judges voted their double cream vanilla ice cream the best in the UK in the competition organised by The Ice Cream Alliance - the trade body for the UK’s £1billion ice cream industry.

Now the Morelli family are using their continued success to expand their business.

Arnaldo Morelli, whose great uncle Pietro Morelli founded the business, said: “We are using this success to win new contracts with the major supermarkets. We already supply Tesco in Northern Ireland and we are in talks with other major retailers.

“We are developing new flavours to excite our customers and have enlisted the support of Crossgar Foods to distribute our ice cream across Ireland.

“Our success is based on using the finest Irish dairy produce and ingredients which are all carefully sourced with our double cream being produced right on our doorstep!”

It’s a formula that is clearly working with more than 50 different flavours of ice cream being produced at their Coleraine factory supplying demand from a host of hotels and restaurants as well as retailers across Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland.

The family firm employs seven people in their production unit and produces more than 300,000 litres of ice cream every year.

The team at Morelli’s, which includes Arnaldo’s father Guido and brother Marino and sister Daniela, are all passionate about ice cream.

Arnaldo added: “All the recipes are developed by my father Guido. He is a perfectionist and draws on the skills and knowledge that have been passed down by generations of the family.

The family were praised by Zelica Carr, Chief Executive Officer of The Ice Cream Alliance.

“The Morelli’s were up against very strong competition but the judges felt their ice cream was outstanding and their success is well-deserved.

“The ice cream industry continues to flourish and the quality and flavour is increasing every year thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of ice cream makers like the Morelli family.”