Breyers

Last updated

Brand logo
Product type Frozen dessert
Owner Unilever
CountryUnited States
Introduced1866;159 years ago (1866)
Previous owners Kraft Foods Inc.
Website breyers.com

Breyers is an ice cream and frozen dessert brand with headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. [1] Since 1993, Breyers has been owned and managed by the British conglomerate, Unilever. [1] [2] Founded in 1866, Breyers is the oldest manufacturer of ice cream in the United States. [3]

Contents

Breyers makes products described as ice cream or as frozen dairy desserts. [4] Its products range from traditional dairy desserts to those for specialty diet concerns, such as sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. [4]

Breyers is one of the ten best-selling ice cream brands globally, [5] and was fourth among American brands in 2022 with sales of $498 million. [6]

History

Breyer ice cream truck, c. 1915 Breyer ice cream truck newspaper.png
Breyer ice cream truck, c. 1915

In 1866, William A. Breyer began to produce and sell ice cream in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [3] [7] The ice cream was hand-cranked and made from cream, sugar, fruit, and nuts. [3] [4] He first sold it to his neighbors from his home, and later via horse and wagon on the streets of Philadelphia as demand for the product grew. [3] [4] By 1882, Breyer had five ice cream shops and a delivery service for the product. [3] [4] He opened a wholesale manufacturing plant in 1896. [4]

Breyer's Ice Cream Company was incorporated in 1908. [3] [8] By 1918, the company produced one million gallons of ice cream annually. [2] [3]

Breyer's Ice Cream Company was sold to the National Dairy Products Corporation/Sealtest in 1926. [8] [9] In 1930, National Dairy Products purchased the company that later become known as Kraft in 1976. [3] [4] Kraft sold its ice cream brands to Unilever in 1993. [3] [10] [11]

In 1993, Unilever merged the Breyers ice cream brand with Gold Bond and Good Humor ice cream to create the Good Humor-Breyers division. [2] [3] Unilever closed its last Breyers plant in Philadelphia in 1995. [9] The Good Humor-Breyers headquarters were moved from Green Bay, Wisconsin and Oakville, Ontario to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and Toronto in 2007. [12]

In 2013, Unilever introduced a new category of Breyers products called frozen dairy desserts made with additional ingredients and less butterfat, having created this category to provide smooth, low-calorie products. [4] [13] The main manufacturing change in the new products from Breyers "all-natural" ice cream was a lower fat content, following federal regulations that require ice cream with less than 10% butterfat and milk solids to be labeled as "frozen dairy dessert". [14] However, the new desserts evoked complaints by some consumers who were accustomed to the traditional "all-natural" Breyers ice cream. [4] [13] [15]

Market

Part of the $8.6 billion Unilever ice cream group, [5] [16] Breyers is among the world's top-10 most valued ice cream brands. [5] [17] With $498 million in sales in 2022, Breyers was fourth among American brands. [6] In 2024, Unilever announced it would sell Breyers and its other ice cream brands by the end of 2025. [5]

Products

Breyers manufactures its frozen desserts to be either "original ice cream" or "frozen dairy dessert". [4] [13] [18] Some 60% of Breyers products are ice cream and 40% are frozen dairy desserts. [4]

Breyers manufactures products for consumers with specialty diets, such as sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, non-GMO, lactose-free, and "CarbSmart" for people preferring low-carbohydrate desserts. [4] [18]

Breyers groups its products in three flavor categories that include Classics (made with milk, cream, and natural colors and flavors), Better For You desserts (manufactured to be low in calories with lower carbohydrate content and no sugar added for flavor), and Cookies & Candies (which contain pieces of cookies or branded candies). [18]

Ice cream

Founded in 1866, Breyers is the oldest manufacturer of ice cream in the United States. [3] [19]

Breyers ice cream products are made from milk, cream, sugar, tara gum, and flavors derived from natural sources, such as vanilla. [4] [13] [18]

Frozen dairy dessert

Breyers frozen dairy desserts are manufactured with skim milk, corn syrup (or maltitol syrup), sugar or a sugar substitute, polydextrose, glycerin, and various other ingredients that may include whey, carob bean gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and added micronutrients. [4] [20]

Confusion with Dreyer's

In the Western United States, Breyers ice cream may be confused with Dreyer's ice cream, the company cofounded by William Dreyer and Joseph Edy as Edy's Grand Ice Cream in 1928 in Oakland, California. [21] [22] The root of the confusion dates to 1948 when the Edy's Grand Ice Cream name was changed to "Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream". [22] Seeking to eliminate the confusion, Dreyer's changed its brand name in the home market of Breyers from "Dreyer's Grand" back to "Edy's Grand" in 1977, while retaining the Dreyer's brand west of the Rocky Mountains. [22] Around that same time, Breyers had expanded its market into the western United States — the home market of Dreyer's — and by the mid-1980s, was distributing ice cream throughout the region. [21]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Breyers". Unilever. 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "About Breyers History". Breyers. 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "History of Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream Company". Fundinguniverse.com. Unilever. 1996. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Riddle, Holly (2 February 2023). "The Untold Truth Of Breyers". Mashed. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ziady, Hanna (19 March 2024). "Ben & Jerry's and Magnum will form the core of an $8 billion ice cream company". CNN. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  6. 1 2 Berk, Brian (22 November 2022). "2022 State of the Industry: Ice cream category sees bright future ahead". Dairy Foods. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  7. ↑ Ettinger, Amy (27 June 2017). Sweet Spot: An Ice Cream Binge Across America. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 15. ISBN   978-1-101-98420-8.
  8. 1 2 "Breyers Ice Cream sign salesman's catalog, 1948". Duke University Library. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  9. 1 2 Ivey, Dave. "Ice Cream Factory Closing After 128 Years; 240 Jobs Melting Away". The Associated Press. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  10. ↑ Goff, H. Douglas; Hartel, Richard W. (2013). Ice Cream. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 12. ISBN   978-1-4614-6096-1 . Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  11. ↑ Janofsky, Michael (9 September 1993). "Unilever to Gain Breyers In Kraft Ice Cream Deal". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  12. ↑ "One Unilever". CSP Daily News. 16 October 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Demas, Alex (21 May 2024). "Claims That Breyers Doesn't Sell 'Real' Ice Cream Are False". The Dispatch. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  14. ↑ "Frozen Desserts, Subpart B - Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts (updated 30 August 2024)". Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, US Food and Drug Administration. 3 February 1978. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  15. ↑ Barry, Dan (15 April 2013). "Ice Cream's Identity Crisis". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  16. ↑ "Our Compass Organisation: introducing Unilever's five new Business Groups". Unilever. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  17. ↑ Ziady, Hanna (10 November 2020). "This company conquered the ice cream market. Home delivery is the final frontier". CNN. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  18. 1 2 3 4 "Breyers - All Flavors". Breyers. 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  19. ↑ Braun Davison, Candace (9 August 2016). "11 Things You Should Know Before Buying Breyers Ice Cream". Delish. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  20. ↑ "Birthday Blast, Breyers Frozen Dairy Dessert per 100 g". FoodData Central, US Department of Agriculture. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  21. 1 2 Gellene, Denise (19 June 1986). "East vs. West in Ice Cream Fight: Breyers' Attempt to Scoop Dreyer's Breeds Confusion". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  22. 1 2 3 "Dreyer's: Our Story". IceCream.com. 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
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