Supermarket aim by icecream maker

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Emerald Group is considering plans to put its high-end New Zealand Natural icecream brand into Australian supermarkets after establishing more than 50 parlours in four states.

The move comes as American icecream maker Ben & Jerry's prepares to launch its chunk-filled icecream bar franchises in Sydney and Melbourne from September.

NZ Natural chief executive Shane Lamont said the move into Australian supermarkets had been under serious consideration as part of the company's Australian expansion plans.

It already sells the product in some speciality supermarkets in Western Australia, where it also has parlours. Other parlours are in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Mr Lamont said it would be arrogant to say he was not concerned about the arrival of Ben & Jerry's in Australia.

But it was already a competitor in 80 per cent of the 21 countries where New Zealand Natural had 650 outlets, including the US and a concentration of Asian countries. Ben & Jerry's has 417 outlets in the US and 380 globally.

He said the products were pitched differently. Ben & Jerry's had the highest amount of "inclusions" of any icecream in the world, whereas NZ Natural concentrated more on the icecream and flavour content.

Ben & Jerry inclusions under its "fun" branding include chocolate icecream stuffed with pieces of chocolate brownie and banana icecream with chocolate chunks of walnuts. Other flavours included strawberries and cookie swirls.

Ben & Jerry's Australian brand manager, Caroline Simpson, said New Zealand could be the next launch pad for the icecream once the brand was established in Australia.

She would not be drawn on a time commitment but said: "We want to launch in New Zealand with a good level of local support so we're going to take the time to get it right."

Australia is the world's third-biggest consumer of icecream, at 18.5 litres per person a year.

That compares with the United States' per head consumption of 23 litres a year and New Zealand's of 20 litres.

- © Fairfax NZ News