ELEPHANT HOUSE ICE CREAM
THE MARKET
Elephant House Ice Cream operates within Sri Lanka’s confectionery sector, spanning ice cream, frozen desserts, snacks and other adjacent categories. Elephant House Ice Cream, part of Ceylon Cold Stores (CCS), has a long-standing history of being a pioneer in ice cream manufacturing.
Positioned as Sri Lanka’s favourite ice cream, the brand enjoys universal awareness, strong first choice consideration and the highest brand equity within the category.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Elephant House Ice Cream’s achievements reflect decades of consistent brand stewardship, product excellence and deep consumer trust built across generations. The brand has been recognised across multiple respected industry platforms, reinforcing its leadership not only in scale but also for brand strength and relevance.
It was ranked Sri Lanka’s top dessert brandin 2023/24 2024 by LMD and has continued to perform strongly in LMD’s Brands Annual rankings. In 2025, the brand reached a defining milestone at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards by being crowned Brand of the Year – the highest honour presented at the event.
In addition, Elephant House Ice Cream secured gold for Product Brand of the Year and silver for Local Brand of the Year, underscoring its excellence in product delivery, local resonance and brand management.
At an organisational level, CCS has also been recognised for operational and quality excellence – including commendation at the National Supply Chain Excellence Awards – and national recognition for in-house research and development.
Collectively, these accolades reflect a brand and organisation that continues to evolve, innovate and lead, while remaining trusted, relevant and deeply embedded in Sri Lankan consumers’ lives.
HISTORY
Elephant House Ice Cream is rooted in the legacy of Ceylon Cold Stores, a company with a history spanning 160 years. The brand has been part of Sri Lankan life for more than eight decades, growing alongside generations of consumers, and becoming synonymous with shared moments of joy, celebration and togetherness.
From its early years, Elephant House Ice Cream has focussed on delivering consistent quality and wide accessibility, helping establish trust at a time when the frozen confectionery category itself was still developing. Over the decades, the brand has expanded its presence across the island, supported by a strong manufacturing base, and an extensive distribution network that ensures availability in both urban and rural markets.
As consumer preferences evolved, Elephant House Ice Cream continuously adapted its portfolio by introducing new flavours, formats and sub-brands, while remaining anchored inits core promise of goodness, quality and trust. This balance between heritage and innovation has enabled the brand to move beyond being a few flavours of ice cream to Sri Lanka’s favourite frozen confectionery range.
The brand’s evolution also encompassed expansion into value additions, speciality flavours, pseudo premium, and premium and super premium segments, most notably through IMORICH as its premium ice cream sub-brand.
With over eight decades of history, 100 percent awareness and strong top of mind recall, Elephant House Ice Cream stands at the maturity stage of its brand lifecycle today, fortified by leadership across major segments and a deep emotional bond with Sri Lankan consumers.
THE PRODUCT
Elephant House Ice Cream offers a comprehensive portfolio of frozen desserts designed to cater to diverse consumers, occasions and price points. The brand is recognised for its superior flavour intensity, consistent texture and reliable quality delivered across formats, including sticks, cones, cups, tubs and multi serve packs.
The multi serve range is primarily consumed at home and across the HORECA (hotels, restaurants and cafes/catering) segment. It includes the signature Vanilla flavour, made with natural Sri Lankan vanilla extract, along with flagship variants such as Fruit ‘n’ Nut and Pani Kadju, both of which enjoy strong brand equity.
And the single serve range is available across multiple formats including cups, cones and sticks, all offered under the Wonder sub brand. IMORICH represents the premium segment, featuring a curated range of international ice cream recipes that deliver a rich and indulgent experience.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
In the latter part of 2025, the brand advanced its innovation agenda with the launch of the ‘New Gen Range’ under Wonder and IMORICH, enabled by extrusion technology. This development represents the next chapter in reimagining indulgence, and blending craftsmanship and technology, to deliver new textures, formats, shapes and consumption experiences.
And in December 2025, the brand achieved a historic milestone with the official launch of Elephant House Ice Cream in Australia. This marked the first time in the company’s 160 year legacy that Elephant House Ice Cream was produced outside Sri Lanka, signalling a new chapter in its international growth journey.
PROMOTION
Based on consumer behavioural insights drawn from multiple research sources, it has been identified that Sri Lankans seek brands that celebrate their culture, traditions and regional identity, in a modern and exciting way.
While the ice cream category had been dominated by globalised flavours and generic communication, a clear opportunity emerged to connect more deeply with diverse communities through locally inspired flavours, cultural celebrations and youth empowerment.
Recognising that Sri Lankan communities rally around shared festivals, Elephant House Ice Cream embraced national moments to build cultural relevance across diverse audiences. This included products such as Elephant House Mixed Fruit Ice Cream for the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, the Faluda cone during Ramadan, the
Winter Slice at Christmas and the Kulfi stick for Thai Pongal.
At a corporate level, Elephant House launched its latest communication campaign – ‘House House’ – focussing on the universal love for ice cream regardless of gender, age, culture or region. The brand also maintained strong consumer engagement through ground level activations and promotions nationwide.
Beyond flavours, Elephant House created cultural impact through the Elephant House Superheroes programme, an islandwide competition recognising innovative and entrepreneurial skills among Sri Lankan youth aged between 15 and 19. By nurturing young talent and rewarding creativity, the initiative built a deeper emotional bond with families and communities, positioning the brand as both a flavour innovator and custodian of Sri Lanka’s future.
BRAND VALUES
Elephant House Ice Cream is guided by core values of inclusivity and trustworthiness, reflecting its role as a brand that brings people together across generations and lifestyles. These are supported by complementary values of being popular, mature, dependable, respectable and caring.
The brand’s values are expressed through wide availability and accessibility, ensuring Elephant House Ice Cream remains approachable and present wherever consumers shop. Its extensive pack and range of flavours reinforce the promise of offering something for everyone across ages, occasions and consumption needs.
Heritage plays a central role with the brand’s long-standing reputation lending credibility, reassurance and familiarity built over decades.
