Little Moons CEO Joanna Allen on TikTok virality, retail growth and frozen’s future

From viral sensation to freezer aisle staple, mochi ice-cream brand Little Moons has carved out a firm place in Australia’s competitive ice cream market. Founded in London in 2010 by siblings Vivien and Howard Wong, the company has grown from a family bakery idea into a global frozen snacking phenomenon, now sold in more than 30 countries.At the helm is Joanna Allen, who stepped in as CEO last year following her senior leadership roles at Coca-Cola, Unilever, where she was global brand vice president. and as CEO of Graze.Drawing on that mix of blue-chip experience and challenger-brand agility, Allen has overseen Little Moons’ continued expansion, balancing growth with B-corp commitments to people, planet and profit.She spoke with Inside Retail about the brand’s TikTok-fuelled rise, building coveted partnerships with Coles and Woolworths and the company’s ambition to reframe frozen food as an everyday snacking destination.Inside Retail: Little Moons entered the Australian market at speed and scale. How have you balanced stabilising the business with continued growth in such a competitive retail environment?Joanna Allen: Much of our early success was born out of virality on TikTok. At the peak of the trend in 2021, our sales surged by a huge 1300 per cent, and we launched into Australia the following year, building on that momentum.As any fast-scaling business knows, expanding globally comes with complexities from building capacity, navigating different regulatory environments and most importantly, developing a coherent and compelling brand across every market.To stabilise while fuelling growth, we’ve committed to operating in a way that balances people, planet and profit. Becoming B-Corp certified this year was a big milestone, alongside setting clear environmental targets and embedding social responsibility into the core of how we work. By holding ourselves to higher standards and working toward a brighter future, we’re also helping to build long-term brand equity.At the same time, we’ve learned what first made us big: TikTok. It remains a powerful driver of awareness, conversion and cultural relevance and it continues to be one of the most effective ways for us to gain traction in new markets. In Australia, that’s meant putting a local spin on a UK cult classic, partnering with a huge range of Aussie creators in the last year alone, including King of the Sweet Treat, Undiagnosed Anthony and it-girls Jaz Hand and Martina Liang.All of this means we’re now in a strong position to realise Little Moons’ full global potential.IR: With Little Moons now in 65 per cent of Australian supermarkets, what have you learned about building strong partnerships with Coles and Woolworths to secure visibility in crowded freezer aisles?JA: Ice cream is a narrow category, with countless brands vying for space in the freezer aisle. It’s rooted in a single occasion (80 per cent of ice cream is consumed as dessert) and the shopper base skews towards kids and those over 65. On top of that, the category is highly seasonal.Snacking is the opposite. It’s growing across new occasions, driven by younger, more affluent consumers and snacks are enjoyed year-round. That’s where Little Moons has carved out a point of difference. By working closely with Woolworths and Coles, we’re helping bring these consumers into the freezer aisle through targeted media and tackling some of those traditional ice cream restraints head-on.It’s a strategy that’s already paying off, with Little Moons being the number three ice cream snacking brand in Australia. Plus, we see plenty of room to grow further, continuing to work with our retail partners to reappraise the frozen aisle as a top snacking destination. With summer on the way, we’ll be capitalising on the seasonal demand with the rollout of our ‘a little something’ campaign – putting Little Moons centre stage in snacking moments. IR: Little Moons has recently expanded into new snacking categories like cheesecake. What do you look for in an innovation to ensure it grows the category rather than cannibalising existing sales?JA: With 29 per cent of Australians snacking three or more times a day, there’s a strong appetite for novelty, variety and premiumisation in bite-sized formats. We see ourselves as pioneers in frozen snacking, able to transfer what we’ve learned about taste and permissibility from ice cream into other frozen desserts, a category that’s crying out for innovation. In the UK, our cheesecakes proved the power of that approach, attracting 86 per cent incremental shoppers to frozen desserts rather than cannibalising ice cream sales. The story has been similar in Australia. Since launching three SKUs in July, we’ve delivered $400,000 in sales in just the first two months. Likewise, Refreshos, our vegan, low-calorie mochi sorbet range, is tapping into growing demand for lighter snacksLooking ahead, our focus is on continuing to expand the boundaries of frozen snacking, bringing fresh ideas and new formats to help reshape the freezer aisle. IR: Heading into the peak Australian summer sales period, how do you see shopper behaviour evolving in ice cream and snacking, and how is Little Moons preparing?JA: Summer will always be a critical time for ice cream, but what’s changing is the way shoppers are thinking about frozen foods not just as a dessert, but as a snack to be enjoyed across more moments.Our focus this summer is on building familiarity by anchoring Little Moons in those everyday snacking occasions, encouraging Australians to see the freezer as the destination when they want ‘a little something.’ Through retail partnerships, TikTok content and our first out-of-home campaign in the market, we’ll be making sure Little Moons is top of mind when those moments strike.IR: You’ve held senior roles at Unilever, Coca-Cola and Graze. How have those experiences shaped your leadership and approach to growing Little Moons in retail?JA: At Coca-Cola, I learnt to appreciate the craft of building iconic and category-defining brands and the power of diverse perspectives – whether from country, maturity of the brand, channel or simply experience – to build stronger and more creative work.At Unilever, it was critical to bring the intimacy for the people that we serve with global brands and the cultural context. And leading Graze gave me an amazing experience in the agility of a challenger brand and the data analytics that were embedded into the DNA of the business from its early days as a direct-to-consumer subscription business. Those experiences have informed how I lead Little Moons today – the art of storytelling and consumer intimacy alongside the science of data analytics and category insight.That’s possible when you surround yourself with people who bring diverse experiences and perspectives. By default, you hire for functional expertise, but what makes my team truly strong is its mix – people with classic blue-chip backgrounds, people from retail, people from entirely different industries and those who’ve run their own businesses. That diversity of thought makes Little Moons stronger and sets us up for success in growing Little Moons in retail.