Ice-cream exported to California

Press, 21 June 1984, Page 20

Ice-cream exported to California

Sixty thousand litres of Private Bin ice-cream was sent to California last month.

Tip Top Ice Cream Company, a subsidiary of Wattie Industries, sent four containers, each loaded with 15,000 litres of ice-cream, for distribution throughout supermarket outlets in Los Angeles and San Francisco. About 25 per cent of the order will go to the catering trade.

The general manager for Tip Top, Mr Brent Dowsett, said the United States was a notoriously difficult market to penetrate and the company would still be trying to cut through red tape had it not been for the assistance of the New Zealand Dairy Board.

“I have no idea how much the Dairy Board has invested in litigation in the States, but it must have been quite a considerable sum,” he said. “They have been trying to clear the way for New Zealand dairy products to enter America and, thanks to their tenacity, we are now able to export our Private Bin ice cream product. Requirements are still stringent but we are able to comply with them,” said Mr Dowsett. Private Bin will be distributed in the United States under the brand name, “New Zealand Farms.” This is a brand owned by the New Zealand Dairy Board in America for the purpose of importing and marketing

New Zealand products, such as meat, fish, and cheese.

The ice-cream was promoted at a week-long New Zealand Trade Fair in Las Vegas by internationally familiar faces, Rod Dixon and “Miss Universe,” Lorraine Downs. Visitors to the fair were offered samples of the ice-cream with a speciaal brochure detailing the “story of ice-cream.”

Mr Dowsett said the company was looking forward to further orders from the United States. “This one order has covered our outlay in terms of research and development, so if we did not receive another from this source we would not be making a loss,” he said.