Ice cream's sweet story of success

Lily Xia usually takes her three-year-old daughter Yoko to Vai Milano at the Indigo Shopping Center in Beijing at the weekend for an ice cream. It is a treat her daughter loves, and the taste is pure Italian.

"The textures of handmade ice cream is softer and it tastes fresher than other labels, and less sweet," Xia, who works in the e-commerce industry and has studied in Singapore as well as traveling extensively in Europe, said.

While ice cream is popular in China, many customers find certain varieties too sweet. This has opened up the market to traditional Italian ice cream makers such as Vai Milano, one of the major boutique brands based in Milan.