Unilever Australasia has appointed Sydney-based advertising agency Whybin\TBWA to work across the local branding its multi-million dollar ice cream account in Australia. Unilever Australasia is the Australian and New Zealand subsidiary company of Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever. The Australian subidiary owns the Streets Ice-cream brand. Whybin\TBWA will commence work immediately on Unilever’s Magnum, Cornetto and Splice brands. The appointment was made without a pitch. Paul Bradbury, CEO... ...Read more »

A gourmet ice cream store in Hong Kong that sources milk from Australia is breaking new taboos in the ice cream world with its French Lobster flavour ice cream. Owner of the Ice Cream Gallery, ice cream chef Arron Lui revealed his most recent foray into unusual flavours at the Hong Kong Food Expo last week. Mr Liu says the French Lobster ice cream is the most complicated of the 600 flavours of ice cream he has developed since he began in 1994. The Ice Cream Gallery’s French range also includes... ...Read more »

Agro Farma, the US company behind popular new yoghurt brand Chobani, has acquired Australia’s Bead Foods, maker of Gippsland Dairy and Rowena choc-tops. The deal, announced yesterday for an undisclosd sum, is a “major milestone” for Agro Farma, CEO and founder Hamdi Ulukaya said. “This acquisition marks a major milestone for Agro Farma as we expand our global reach into key international markets. And we couldn’t have picked a better partner to start with,” Ulukaya... ...Read more »

Unilever has confirmed the French launch of a version of its Magnum ice cream that contains alcohol. The new Magnum Minis, which will be released under its Heart Brand ice cream label, are available in two flavours – one with Italian liqueur limoncello and the other with Irish cream. The product comes to market after “very positive trials”, Unilever said. The product is pitched as offering an after-meal gourmet moment with a tinge of alcohol and targets new ice cream customers,... ...Read more »

A former Olympic pole vaulting champion and a French-born Gippsland cheese maker have taken top honours in the RNA’s Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show search for the nation’s best ice-cream and dairy product. Silver medallist for Australia at the 2000 Olympics, Tatiana Grigroveria, took top honours for her Ascot Caffe e Gelato Milany’s special banana ice-cream, beating more than 150 entries to win the gold medal and the title as Australia’s best ice-cream in the RQFWS’s Australian first... ...Read more »

Nestlé has announced that it is expanding its Skinny Cow range of low-fat frozen snacks, with the launch of its first confectionery range in the US. Nestlé is introducing two new Skinny Cow branded products offering four different flavours. Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters are bite-sized chocolate and caramel treats available in either milk or dark chocolate. Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp are wafer bars available in peanut or chocolate varieties. “Confectionery is a natural extension for Skinny Cow,”... ...Read more »

Dunkin’ Brands’ ice-cream flagship, Baskin-Robbins, has announced a special ice-cream cake in honour of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton – the ‘English Garden’ ice-cream cake. Inspired by the colourful gardens of the Cotswolds in central England and a first of its kind, the “English Garden” ice cream cake may be customized with any flavour ice cream. The six inch round wedding cake is available at participating Baskin-Robbins locations... ...Read more »

Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast are offering free ice cream today, to celebrate Ben & Jerry’s Global Free Cone Day – Tuesday April 12. The company’s four scoop shops in Australia – located in Manly and Broadway in Sydney, Chadstone in Melbourne and at Movie World on the Gold Coast – are offering up “as many scoops as you can shake a digeridoo at” – one at a time, of course. Parent company Unilever said... ...Read more »

Nearly three months after a metre-and-a-half of water swept through its doors, Rosalie Cold Rock Ice Creamery is rising from Brisbane’s devastating floods. The store in the city’s inner-west will reopen this Saturday in time for Rosalie Rising – a community street party to celebrate the recovery of businesses within the Rosalie Village precinct. January’s devastating floods destroyed everything within the Nash Street ice creamery, forcing owners Donna and John Weatherhead to start their 13-year-old... ...Read more »

Unilever has said it will begin selling its Magnum ice cream range in the US next month. The company said on Friday that the brand, which was launched in the UK in 1987, was the first hand-held ice cream “targeted as a premium adult offering” and  is now one of the “world’s leading ice cream brands, selling one billion units annually worldwide”. Unilever is launching the range in the US with an original film series directed by Karl Largerfeld and starring actress Rachel... ...Read more »