Company type | Company and franchise |
---|---|
Industry | Food Retail Direct service |
Founded | 1958 |
Founder | Dominic Facchino |
Headquarters | |
Key people | Peter Woodhams |
Owner | Unilever |
Parent | Wall's (ice cream) |
Mr. Whippy (or Mister Whippy) is a brand of soft-mix ice cream produced by Wall's, a subsidiary of Unilever as part of the Heartbrand. Mr. Whippy began as a franchise of ice cream operators, but is now just the name of the soft-mix ice cream, as such, many ice cream vendors selling the soft-mix brand themselves as "Mr. Whippy" and stylise their vehicles and outlets as they wish. Actual franchises of the brand continue separately in Australia and New Zealand. [1]
The name "Mr. Whippy" has become a generic trademark in the United Kingdom amongst consumers to refer to soft-serve ice cream in a single cone. [2]
The company originated when British businessman Dominic Facchino visited the United States and saw the Mister Softee ice cream franchise, selling soft serve ice cream from mobile ice cream vans. Unable to license the brand in the UK, Facchino set up his own Mr. Whippy franchise in Birmingham in 1958, [3] starting with a fleet of six vans.
The company was purchased by Unilever in 1966.
The company franchised internationally to Australia in 1962 by sending ten vans on a ship from Southampton to Sydney. Following success, a second batch was sent the following year, consisting of twenty-four vans. Following great success in Australia, Facchino decided to also franchise in New Zealand, sending twenty-four vans over. During the franchise period from Mr. Whippy in the UK, around two hundred Commer Karrier vans were exported from the United Kingdom to Australia, and fifty Austins were exported to New Zealand. [4] The company also franchised for a brief time on the Spanish island of Mallorca. [5] [6]
The company's franchise in Australia continued until the mid-1970s, after which the physical vehicle fleet was renamed and sold to several private operators. In 1982, the trademark "Mr. Whippy" was registered in Australia by ice cream parlour company Mr. Whippy Pty Ltd. Today, the Franchised Food Company owns the brand.
General Foods Limited (subsequently Tip Top) acquired the master rights for New Zealand in the early 1980s. The Isuzu Elf became the standard Mr. Whippy van and an orange and white colour scheme replaced the original pink and white. In early 2000, Tip Top sold the master franchise to Peter Woodhams, the Waikato Mr. Whippy franchisee, who in turn sold the master franchise to Flying Kiwi Holdings (a business owned and run by Nick Cairns, Scot and Geliana Graham) in 2006. The Mr. Whippy vans became modernised, using Ford Transit and Fiat Ducato models, various Fuso variants and Tatua replaced Fonterra Brands NZ as the provider of the Mr. Whippy UHT ice cream mix. As of the present day[ when? ], in New Zealand, there are around 36 Mr. Whippy franchisees operating 58 vans. [ citation needed ]
The Heath bar is a candy bar made of toffee, almonds, and milk chocolate, first manufactured by the Heath Brothers Confectionery in 1928. The Heath bar has been manufactured and distributed by Hershey since its acquisition of the Leaf International North American confectionery operations late in 1996.
An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a cold-food specialty food truck or a mobile retail outlet for pre-packaged ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play – outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street. Along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch, and this often displays pictures of the available products and their prices. Most ice cream vans tend to sell both pre-manufactured ice pops in wrappers, and soft serve ice cream from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake, a sugary syrup, or toppings such as sprinkles. While franchises or chains are rare within the ice cream truck community, some do exist.
Cornetto is an Italian brand of ice cream cone dessert, which is manufactured and owned by parent company Unilever. Cornetto are sold as part of the Heartbrand product line, known internationally by different names, including Algida in Italy, Wall's in the UK and Pakistan, HB in the Republic of Ireland, Frigo in Spain, and Kwality Wall's in India. Many variations of the product exist, ranging from milk-based ice cream to vegetable fat-based dessert.
Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the British company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries.
Good Humor is a Good Humor-Breyers brand of ice cream started by Harry Burt in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, in the early 1920s with the Good Humor bar, a chocolate-coated ice cream bar on a stick sold from ice cream trucks and retail outlets. It was a fixture in American popular culture in the 1950s when the company operated up to 2,000 "sales cars".
Mister Softee Inc. is an American ice cream truck franchisor, best known in the northeastern United States. The company is based in Runnemede, New Jersey.
Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert and variety of ice cream, similar to conventional ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the late 1930s in the United States.
Wall's is an ice cream and frozen dessert brand in the United Kingdom owned by Unilever and is part of the Heartbrand global frozen dessert brand.
Viennetta is a British brand of ice cream dessert made by Unilever and sold under the various Heartbrand brands around the world. The original Viennetta consists of several rippled layers of ice cream separated by thin layers of sprayed-on compound chocolate. It is available in many flavours, including vanilla and mint.
Streets is an Australian ice-cream brand bought by the British multinational company Unilever in 1960. Some products are made in China and shipped to Australia and New Zealand. It is part of Unilever's ice cream brand Heartbrand. The company is in a long-term contract with dairy company Dairy Farmers.
Mövenpick Ice Cream is a brand of ice cream of Swiss origin produced initially by Nestlé. Since 2016, Froneri - a joint venture between Nestlé and R&R Ice Cream - manufactures it.
Tip Top is an ice cream brand founded in 1936 in Wellington, New Zealand, and now owned by Froneri. It was formerly known as Fonterra Brands Ltd, a subsidiary of the Fonterra Co-operative Group based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Steve's Ice Cream was an ice cream brand which began as an ice-cream parlor chain owned by Steve Herrell. He opened his first establishment at 191 Elm Street in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1973. Known as the Original Steve's Ice Cream, the business introduced the concept of super-premium ice cream and customized ice cream desserts using the mix-in.
Choc-tops are chocolate-dipped ice-cream popular in both Australia and New Zealand and traditionally eaten at the cinema. In some dialects choc bombs refers to the hard chocolate covered ice cream at the cinema whereas choc tops are the soft serve version thereof and dispensed from ice cream vans such as Mr Whippy.
Unilever Australasia is the Australian and New Zealand subsidiary company of British FMCG company Unilever. The 3 divisions of the company are Home & Personal Care, Foods and Ice Cream. The company is headquartered in Epping, Sydney, Australia, and has factories located in North Rocks, Minto, Tatura and Petone. Most of the HPC and foods products sold are similar to those sold by Unilever in other Western countries, whilst the ice cream subsidiary company is Streets, which is the largest ice cream company in Australia.
RFM Corporation is a publicly listed food and beverage company in the Philippines. RFM is a manufacturer of flour and flour-based products, milk, juice drinks, and ice cream. As of June 2013, RFM had an asset base of P12 billion and a total market capitalization of P17.1 billion.
Whippy or Whippey may refer to:
Mr. Whippy Australia is a franchise of ice-cream vendors operating in Australia.
Mr. Whippy New Zealand is a franchise of ice-cream vendors operating in New Zealand.