For Tip Top, the multipacks have been their only real growth segment in recent years, up more than 10% per annum. Yet sales in sticks and cones sold individually at dairies and petrol stations have declined; de Raadt suspects because of tight economic times.

Other brands are growing their healthier ice cream lines. New Zealand Natural was born out of its creator’s desire to make a low-fat ice cream without artificial colours or flavours, and its groundbreaking Zilch range contains no added sugar and reduced fat.

Luxury brand Kohu Road trades on the fact that people are willing to pay extra for organic, chemical-free ice cream. At around $20 for a one-litre tub, it’s about double the price of other premium ice creams like Kapiti, Rush Munro’s and Movenpick. Its maker, Greg Hall, uses organic milk, eggs and fresh fruit, avoiding emulsifiers, stabilisers and preservatives.

“We hear of students who pool their flat money so they can buy it. They have the desire to buy quality,” says Titirangi-based Hall, who now exports to speciality food stores in Australia.

“People look at the price and go ‘oh my God’, but when they get it home and eat it, they say it was worth it. People are more educated now — they’re not just buying stuff with a blind faith in food manufacturing.”

Then there are the brands who believe in sticking to tried and true ice cream recipes, like 30-year-old Invercargill family company Deep South, run by Barbara Simon, the president of the New Zealand Ice Cream Manufacturers Association.

Deep South has claimed the best premium vanilla award at the national Ice Cream Awards for the last seven years. The secret, Simon says, is 40% full cream. “We’ve always put in the best ingredients and we won’t be changing that,” she says.

Over three decades, Simon has seen more rigorous standards set by the Food Safety Authority (“where we used to test once a year, we now test just about every day”), the rise in dominance of supermarkets, and escalating prices. “Ice cream was never an expensive item, and now struggling families buy the cheapest, but the younger generation want the fanciest,” she says.

The price of milk has become the biggest challenge facing our ice cream manufacturers. Almost all buy their milk, cream and milk solids from the world’s biggest dairy exporter — Fonterra — and with growing global demand, prices are soaring.

“The hard thing with Fonterra is that we have three month contracts, and that’s the price for three months — it’s not a heck of a lot of time to set your pricing. All manufacturers face it, and it’s a real challenge,” says Simon.

Shane Lamont, chief executive of Emerald Foods Group — which has New Zealand Natural, Movenpick and Killinchy Gold in its stable— says paying milk prices based on the profitability of Fonterra “makes life more difficult for us”.

“We’re paying world prices and it’s near impossible for any long-term ability to control our costs,” he says.
What many may not realise is Tip Top and Kapiti are in the same boat — they also pay standard market prices to their mother company Fonterra.

“We don’t get special treatment. How could we? We have to earn our own way; we don’t want to be subsidised or sheltered. That just stifles innovation ultimately,” says de Raadt.

“Right now and for the next six to 12 months, raw material costs are an issue for us and for all the manufacturers. Sugar has gone up 50% in the last 12 months, and there are still increases coming; chocolate is up 30%.”

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