Australia’s favourite ice cream to be sold in Vietnam
Primary Industries
A popular Australian ice cream brand will send its first export shipment to Vietnam this month.
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The premium Golden North ice cream in two-litre family tubs and 1.2 litre low-GI varieties will be sold at MM Mega Market supermarkets throughout Vietnam
Golden North’s first 12,000-litre shipment to Vietnam will sail from Port Adelaide bound for Ho Chi Minh City on July 27.
The ice cream manufacturer from South Australia’s Mid North region began exporting to China in 2015 where it still sends about four containers a year.
Golden North marketing and export director Trevor Pomery said it was hoped that the exports to Vietnam would reach a container a month – triple the Chinese sales – within a year.
In April, Golden North was voted Australia’s favourite ice cream for the second consecutive year, again beating much larger producers including Peters, Bulla, Connoisseur, Blue Ribbon, Aldi and Ben & Jerry’s.
It came out on top in the categories of taste, consistency, variety and overall satisfaction following an independent customer survey by Canstar Blue of more than 1300 consumers nationally.
Pomery said the in-store product launch in Vietnam would include signage letting customers know that the ice cream voted Australia’s favourite two years in a row was now available.
“If you’ve never seen the brand before that’s a very good reason to give it a try,” he said.
“We’ll do some sampling in store up there as well because you’ve got to get them to try it so then they can make their own decision and we think our product will stand on its own two feet once they taste it.”
The privately owned and operated ice cream manufacturer was established in 1923 at Laura, about 200km north of the South Australian capital Adelaide, where it still produces a range of ice cream flavours that are palm oil, nut and gluten free.
Its sales are approaching 14 million litres of ice cream a year. Flavours being sent to Vietnam include Vanilla, Vanilla Sundae, Rum & Raisin, Lemoncello and Spearmint Sundae.
Pomery said the deal with MM Mega Market had been 14 months in the making and began at a trade show in Singapore in May 2018.
He said he was fielding inquiries from a number of other potential Asian customers he met at a trade show in Hong Kong in May this year, which could also take several months to materialise
“Australia has a very good reputation as being a clean, green food producer so all those who have gone before use to establish that position really do help,” Pomery said.
“The ice cream market is growing over there and they were looking for an Australian product, it was a great opportunity and it was perfect timing. The trade show was right when they were looking for a new supplier.
“It’s going into Ho Chi Minh City and then the customer has a number of outlets all over Vietnam. This particular customer has retail outlets in a number of countries so if we go well in Vietnam we might get into a couple of other places as well – that’s the hope.”
South Australia is well known for its premium foods such as southern rock lobster, almonds, abalone, bluefin tuna and wines from leading regions Barossa and McLaren Vale.
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