The History of Ice Cream in New Zealand

By Chris Newey


1971 - 1980


The Dairy Industry Awakes

Creemee ice cream and Fiesta ice cream advertisement, 1972.
- Rod Dennis.

1972 - Fiesta and Creemee ice cream operations (Auckland) were purchased by Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Co. (RPD).

At the time, RPD was the country's third largest dairy company. The move was made in the interests of diversification, and vertical integration - a desire to add value to their dairy products. RPD also developed a range of frozen cheesecakes, using ice cream-related technology, and several other consumer products.

At the time there were also rumours that the huge multinational Nestle might enter the New Zealand ice cream market, and some felt it was time that the New Zealand dairy industry strengthened its position by investing in consumer brands.

Fiesta Ice Cream delivery truck above, La Grande trucks below, ca. 1975
- Rod Dennis.

Around 1974, RPD also purchased a Petone-based manufacturer, La Grande ice cream, and a fourth ice cream business, Olympia, a specialist Italian ice cream manufacturer in Melbourne, Australia.

1975 - The Wall's ice cream brand and two factories (Palmerston North and Papatoetoe) were purchased from multinational Unilever by Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Co. The Fiesta, Creemee and La Grande brands were, over time, discontinued and absorbed into the Wall's operation.

At this point, the dairy industry, in the form of RPD, had control of the country's second-largest ice cream business, with a full product range and national distribution. The brand by-line became "Wall's, New Zealand's Own".

Stick novelty ranges from this period include Apefruit, Crazy Joe, and Weirdos.

Wall's, "Under New Management, 101% New Zealand-Owned", 1975
- Rod Dennis.


Wall's range, late 1970s
- Rod Dennis.


Wall's stick novelty production, late 1970s.
- Rod Dennis.

Legend: Wall's

The Wall's brand goes back to 1922, when Thomas Wall Ltd, a meat producer who had just been taken over by Lever Brothers Ltd, opened an ice cream factory in Acton, London. The Wall's ice cream brand grew to be one of the largest in the UK, and with the expansion of the multinational Unilever empire, was taken to many countries around the world, including New Zealand. Unilever already had significant investment in NZ with its Birds Eye frozen foods business when it purchased two ice cream factories from Fropax (N.Z.) Ltd in 1966 - the Frosty Jack factory in Palmerston North, and the Meadow Gold factory in Papatoetoe, Auckland. The Wall's brand was launched with national distribution of take-home ice cream, and a full range of stick and cone novelties (Woppa, Splice, Lickity Stix, Nutty Choca, Torpedo, Tornado) through Birds Eye Frozen Foods NZ Ltd. In 1975 the brand and both factories were purchased by Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Co.. The Palmerston North plant was closed and Wall's production was carried out in the Penrose and Papatoetoe factories. Around 1980, RPD sold the Wall's brand and ice cream business to Tip Top Ice Cream Co. Tip Top continued to market Wall's as a secondary brand until at least 1988, before retiring it. Unilever continued its presence in the New Zealand ice cream market with it's Streets brand, imported from Australia.

The mainstream dairy industry (ie., the NZ Dairy Board, the legislated whole-industry marketing arm, and NZCDC, the largest co-operative) was never comfortable with RPD striking out on its own, and when the company over-extended itself, there was no support on offer.

Around 1980, RPD sold the Wall's brand and ice cream business to Tip Top Ice Cream Co., and the dairy industry was no longer in the ice cream business.

Tip Top continued to market Wall's as a secondary brand for a few years, at least until 1988, and then allowed it to lapse.

The Rebirth of New American

1977 - Murray Taylor and Russell Bond (both ex-Tip Top employees, technical and marketing respectively) went into business together and purchased a tiny ice cream factory behind a milk bar on Broadway in Newmarket, Auckland.

Legend: New American

The original New American Milk Bar was established in Newmarket, Auckland in 1942. Owner Christopher Peck was a dairy farmer who supplied town milk to South Auckland but had surplus cream and milk. He was approached by an American ice cream equipment supplier to secure a contract with the American Armed Forces to provide ice cream to the thousands of US troops stationed in Auckland. Once set up, New American also supplied ice cream to Pan American Airways which was operating trans-Pacific flying boats out of Auckland. After the war, New American continued as a small family-operated business, a tiny factory situated behind the milk bar at 205 Broadway (cnr Teed St), Newmarket, producing a single product, Choc Bombs. In 1977, partners Murray Taylor and Russell Bond took over the business. Taylor Bond Ltd set about re-launching the brand as a serious contender in both bulk and take-home markets. After building up bulk (scooping) ice cream sales, they approached Foodtown and obtained their first supermarket order. After 12 months they had out-grown the factory and moved to a larger one in Khyber Pass, Newmarket, and began to make novelties as well. By 1984 the New American brand had grown to be a clear second in the market. A new parent company, United Dairy Foods (UDF) was formed, with a significant shareholding from NZ Co-operative Dairy Co., the country's largest dairy company. United Dairy Foods built a brand new, state-of-the-art, export-certified ice cream factory at 50 Luke St., Otahuhu. The company also acquired the Manda factory in Invercargill and manufactured both New American and Manda brands there and in their Tokomaru plant. New American ice cream was also at one point contract-manufactured for the South Island by Alpine Dairy in Christchurch. Iconic ice cream flavours developed by New American included Goody Goody Gum Drops. Stick novelties included Polar Pops, Panda Pops and Milky Pops. Extruded novelties included Donald Duck, RTR and Moro. NZ Dairy Group took full ownership of UDF in 1993. The Auckland plant and New American brand were acquired by Tip Top in 1996-1998. The New American brand was discontinued by Tip Top a few years after that.

New American Milky Pop wrapper, ca. 1980 - Steve Williams.

Keenes Dairy, Colombo Street, Christchurch, 1988
- Christchurch City Libraries - CCL-DW-69441.


New American RTR poster.
- Steve Williams.

Timeline: the '70s

Greenlane Mik Bar, Auckland. Although taken in the early 1970s, the Tip Top signage probably dates from the 1950s.
- Akaroa Collect.


General Foods Corp. (N.Z.) Ltd. Wairoa Branch, 1970s
- Tip Top archives.

1975 - A 2 litre plastic pack of Tip Top Vanilla Ice Cream was priced at 75 cents.

1976 - New Zealand consumption of ice cream is reported to be 18 litres per capita.

1977 - Closure of the Peter Pan factory in Waipukurau and withdrawal of the company and the Denne family from the ice cream industry after 48 years. At one time, Peter Pan was said to be the third-largest ice cream manufacturer in New Zealand.

Tip Top R2D2 novelty wrapper.
- Steve Williams.

1978 - Tip Top R2D2; New Zealand’s biggest ice cream block-buster, from Star Wars’ heyday.

1979 - Brian and Jeanette Simon, the original founders of Manda Ice Cream, launched a cold store business that soon became Deep South Ice Cream, at 122 Rockdale Road, Invercargill.

May 1979 - Without warning, Prime Minister (and Finance Minister) Rob Muldoon slapped a 20% sales tax on ice cream, the only foodstuff to be treated this way at the time. The industry felt singled out, as foods classified as" basic" were exempt, and as the tax coincided with price increases in sugar and butter.

The tax remained in place until 1986, when GST was introduced.

August 1980 - the Frosty Boy soft serve brand was launched in New Zealand.

Legend: Frosty Boy

In 1970, American soft serve ice cream equipment manufacturer Taylor Freezer began to use an ice cream parlor in its hometown of Adrian, Michigan as a demonstration showroom for its machines. The shop was called Frosty Boy and in 1973 Taylor Freezer registered the Frosty Boy trademark, licensing it for use by customers who used their machines and their Frosty Boy proprietary soft serve powder mix. In 1976, Taylor Freezer set up a Frosty Boy operation in Australia, in partnership with New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, the latter supplying soft serve powder from New Zealand. In August 1980, Taylor Freezers of New Zealand Limited set up a partnership with the NZ Co-operative Dairy Co. to supply Frosty Boy soft serve in New Zealand, operating as Frosty Boy (NZ) Ltd.. Products sold included Frosty Boy Soft Serve Ice Cream, Soft Serve Yoghurt Mix and Thick Shake Mix, Thick Shake Containers, Ice Cream Cones, Flavouring and Sundae Glasses. Regional Frosty Boy franchises were offered. In 2007, Oamaru-based Milligans Food Group Ltd acquired the Frosty Boy NZ business. The original Frosty Boy store in Adrian, Michigan, USA is still open for business.

Frosty Boy TV advertisement, 1993 - YouTube.