Most Successful Ice Cream Companies In Europe example essay topic

The History of Ice Cream How the ice cream industry started The history of Ice Cream goes back to ca. 200 BC. Unlike the television or vacuum cleaner, ice cream has no specific history with one particular inventor or founding date. It started as a luxury item for those that could afford it.

As more people demanded a refreshing, cool and sweet dessert ice cream soon became a treat for everyone. In the seventeenth century, most of Europe was still adjusting to ice cream, as it was with many other types of foods. Ices were unknown in all other continents - except Mexico. Ices were mainly water-ices during this period and recipes were published in France and Great Britain, which helped popular ise the consumption. During the nineteenth century, cities such as London, Paris and New York had an abundance of ice cream manufacturers starting up and ice cream during these times in these areas was beginning to be more common.

There were increasing numbers of Italian immigrants and censuses show that the number of street sales of ice creams grew dramatically during the last half of the century, contributed largely to the use of ice cream carts or vans. New advances in technology allowed the ice cream industry to expand and the introduction of the homogenizer meant that cream could be substituted with longer life products and the quality of ice creams could be improved. The American way The very first ice cream factories were set up in America during the second half of the nineteenth century, which started the rapid growth of the industry. During this time, hygiene standards were greatly improved and also the types of ice cream available to consumers altered greatly with the introduction of the ice cream cone. It was in the 1920's that novel ice creams were first introduced in America and then throughout Europe with Popsicle's and Eskimo Pie, bringing about a whole new revolution in the way consumers viewed ice cream. The Eskimo Pie combined the use of two of the most popular flavours; chocolate and vanilla in aluminium foil pack.

The flavour combination and convenient packaging made it an overnight success. New outlets to buy ice creams also appeared around this time, for example during the breaks at cinemas and due to the rise in purchasing of cars, roadside restaurants appeared. Ice cream soon became part of the everyday eating culture in the United States, whose ice cream industry became an example to the rest of the world. In Europe, industrial production commenced in the 1920's; at its forefront were the dairy nations such as Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Germany, which had many entrepreneurs setting up business in these areas to capitalise on the ever-growing popularity of ice cream.

At this time, Italy had not caught onto the ice cream, due primarily to the political circumstances of Mussolini's Fascist regime, which held up the production of ice cream. However after the Second World War the Italians caught up with several large manufacturers domineering the market. Many of the manufacturers in Europe started off within the dairy industry and progressed into making ice cream as they realised that they could use surplus dairy supplies for making the ice cream. Ice cream production also allowed manufacturers to enjoy a steady income flow throughout the year. In the 1920's, ice cream industries were set up in other areas such as Shanghai and Manila where the industries were based on the US models through American initiatives. Also in Japan, ice cream factories were set up using American machinery.

However due to the fact that Japan was modernising of its own accord, they already had a developing dairy industry and the entrepreneurs that set up ice cream factories were Japanese, rather than Americans. Due to this the Japanese were able to sell their ice cream through extensive and established networks throughout the country, enabling them to gain popularity within the ice cream sector and gain acceptance much more rapidly than the rest of Asia. After the Second World War it was Sweden that set the pace in Europe. It had experienced an enormous upswing at the end of the war and consumers were readily using home freezers and refrigerators to store large family packs of ice cream. Ice cream in the modern era Unilever pioneered the way with exciting ice cream developments that set benchmarks during the 1950's. One of the most successful inventions launched by Unilever was the Cornet to Cone, which was first marketed by their Italian company Algid a in 1959.

Unilever has since maintained its position as being the leaders in innovation within the industry. An event within the ice cream industry that will always stand out is the launch of the ice-lolly. This was made possible by the invention from Gram in Denmark of the fully automated, rotating ice-lolly machine. From the 60's onwards innovation similar to this was also applied to other areas such as packaging, and the hi-tech computers meant that there were great advances in storage and accounting. With the acquisition of Wall's in Britain and Langnese in Germany, Unilever soon became one of the most successful ice cream companies in Europe. Today, Unilever has a EUR 5 billion share of the world's ice cream market.

The never-ending popularity of ice cream The popularity of ice cream can be mainly attributed to the variety in which it presents itself. There seem to be never ending flavours and colours that consumers can choose from. In terms of presentation and versatility, there are very few food products that can be moulded and created like ice cream can be. It is this characteristic that allows ice cream to keep up with ever developing innovation, which is the ultimate key to success in any industry.

Magnum for instance, redefined the European ice cream market as the first ice cream developed especially for adults. Shortly after the launch of the new brand in Germany in 1988, Magnum became quickly a huge success in many countries in the world. Ice cream in the future In March 2003, Unilever announced it would shake up the vibrant and fast changing ice cream market. The global market leader set out its vision for the future of ice cream and committed to delivering more powerfully than ever before irresistible ice cream experiences. -ends-.