The Sidemen’s ice cream range has disappeared from Iceland just six months after launching, The Grocer can reveal.
YouTube collective the Sidemen launched Salted Caramel Cake and Chocolate Brownie Fudge Cake ice creams (rsp: £4.50/500ml) into Iceland under its Sides brand in February.
Manufactured by Beechdean Dairies, the ice creams had already launched into the Sidemen’s casual dining chain, also called Sides, in December. Wholesale distribution via Brakes followed in April.
Speaking at the time of the Iceland launch, Sides food director Gordon McDermott said: “The reaction to these ice creams in Sides restaurants has been phenomenal… we literally had people buying tubs and tubs like they were in a shop, saying they were taking them home to put in the freezer.
“When that happens, the consumer is telling us something.”
However the tubs were last sold by Iceland in August, The Grocer’s analysis of Assosia data reveals. Their disappearance follows a gradual reduction of Sides’ frozen grocery range, which is exclusively sold by Iceland.
Sides initially launched into Iceland with 15 SKUs last summer. However, at the time of writing only eight branded products were available in the retailer including a quartet of chicken products, hash brown nuggets and three table sauces.
Other products absent from the retailer include Nashville Hash Brown Chicken Fries, Saucy BBQ Cheese Bites and Salt & Pepper Bbq Chicken Wings with Crispy Fried Onions.
A ‘restaurant-first’ brand
When approached by The Grocer, Sides CEO Robin Mehta said the brand was “focusing on the bold, hot chicken products people know and expect from Sides” in grocery.
“Sides is growing faster than ever – both on the high street and internationally,” Mehta stressed.
“While our retail range continues to perform, Sides has always been a restaurant-first brand, and our grocery lines are designed to bring that same flavour-led experience into homes nationwide.
“Iceland have been an incredible partner in that journey – working closely with us to refine the range so it better reflects our restaurant DNA. That means focusing on the bold, hot chicken products people know and expect from Sides, ensuring the lineup in stores mirrors what’s made us famous across our restaurant estate.
“Our ice cream and iced coffee products, originally developed for in-store guests, are now finding traction across foodservice and new retail channels, while Sides Jerky continues to grow strongly in Tesco Express.”
Iceland and Beechdean Dairies declined to comment.
Best listings
The Sidemen’s Best Cereal range has also been scaled back significantly in grocery. The HFSS-compliant breakfast brand debuted in Tesco in March 2024. Listings in Iceland and Morrisons followed in June.
However, at the time of writing, Best Cereal had disappeared from Tesco and Iceland. Tesco advised that the cereal was only stocked on a ’when it’s gone, it’s gone’ basis.The Sidemen’s manager, Jordan Schwarzenberger, said: “We had an extremely successful launch with Tesco and also ran limited-time exclusives in Iceland, including our Ice Cream Crunch.
“Best has since agreed to go exclusive with Morrisons, who now stock all of our fan-favourite SKUs – including the popular Honeycomb Crunch Squid Games. flavour.
The Sidemen – known by the monikers W2S, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and Prime Hydration co-founder KSI – together have more than 155 million subscribers, with over 20 million on their collective YouTube channel.
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