Tip Top (ice cream)

In 1936 Albert Hayman and Len Malaghan opened their first ice cream parlour in Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand followed in the same year by a second milk bar in Wellington, and one in Dunedin. Tip Top Ice Cream Company was registered as a manufacturing company in 1936. By 1938 Tip Top was manufacturing its own ice cream and was successfully operating stores in the lower half of the North Island, and in Nelson and Blenheim.

In May 1938 Tip Top Ice Cream Company Auckland Limited was incorporated into the growing ice cream business. Due to distribution difficulties and World War II, this was operated as a completely separate company to the Wellington Tip Top.

In November 1962, Hayman and Malaghan opened the biggest and most technically advanced ice cream factory in the Southern Hemisphere, built at Mount Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand. The Tip Top factory included staff houses and 20 acres (81,000 m²) of farm land overlooking the Southern Motorway and cost NZ$700,000. Prime Minister Keith Holyoake attended the opening ceremony.

By 1964 the Company had expanded to such an extent that a parent company was formed, General Foods Corporation (NZ) Limited. It was rated as one of the soundest investments on the stock exchange and other companies were quick to note its potential.

The Auckland Tip Top factory was originally a seasonal factory, which worked only to produce ice cream for the summer months. They sold for a shilling, and early innovations led to ice cream inventions like Topsy, Jelly Tip, FruJu and Ice Cream Sundaes, some of which are among New Zealand's iconic foods today. The overwhelming success of these products transformed the Mt Wellington site from a summer-centred seasonal factory into a 24-hour, 365-day operation.

As demand grew over the years, 2 further plants were opened in Christchurch and Perth. The Christchurch factory was specially designed to meet the stringent export requirements of the Japanese market.

Supermodel Rachel Hunter appeared for the first time on television in an advertisement for Tiptop Trumpet in the mid-1980s at 15 years of age. This advertisement was popular and helped the Tip Top brand grow even stronger in New Zealand whilst also helping to launch her career.

In April 1997 Tip Top was purchased by a West Australian food processor, Peters & Browne’s Foods from Heinz Watties. This merger of Peters & Browne’s and Tip Top created the largest independent ice cream business in the Southern Hemisphere with combined sales of $550 million.

On 18 June 2001 Tip Top Ice Cream became part of Fonterra Co-operative Group after Fonterra purchased the Peter and Browne’s Foods Business.

In 2007 the Christchurch Factory was closed with all production moving to Auckland.

In 2011 Tip Top celebrated its 75th Anniversary.

In 2019 Fonterra sold Tip Top for $380 million to UK-based company Froneri, a joint venture owned by Nestlé and PAI Partners.[1]

Celebrations took place throughout the country in November 2006 to mark the 70th anniversary of Tip Top Ice Cream. This included 13 selected dairies (a New Zealand term for convenience store) selling 10 cent, 1 scoop cone ice creams for one day as a promotional activity. Usually the price for a 1 scoop cone of Tip Top ice cream at a dairy is $1–2 depending on where it is purchased.

As Tip Top considered rail and bus commuters to be their first loyal customers, on 22 November 2006 at Britomart Transport Centre (Auckland’s New Central railway terminal) a Tracey Collins-designed ice cream tree took centre-stage on the rail platform. Many local schools took the train to the Britomart to view the displays about the history of Tip Top ice cream and see the ice cream tree.

Also as part of Tip Top's celebration, the previously discontinued brand Joy Bar was giving a temporary reprieve.

Tip Top produces around 41 million litres of ice cream a year, and Fonterra Brands (Tip Top) Ltd has around 400 employees. New Zealanders alone consume the equivalent of 1.9 million litres of milk in the form of Tip Top ice cream every year. Also, New Zealand's 4.4 million people population, consume around two million Jelly Tips every year.

Tip Top Ice Cream is exported to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands.

Today, the three most sold bowl ice cream flavours are Vanilla, Hokey Pokey and Jelly Tip. The five most popular (by sales) Tip Top novelties are Choc Bar, Lemonade Popsicle, Memphis Meltdown Big Nuts, Jelly Tip and Pineapple FruJu. The oldest novelty ice cream still in production is the Eskimo Pie.

• Tip Top official website