Kiwi A2 icecream to Australia

Nelson icecream company Appleby Farms is set to launch in Australia after growing quickly since it started in 2017.

Sales of the ‘‘cow to cone’’ icecream produced from A2 milk have taken off in New Zealand, and the icecream is now sold in 175 supermarkets and cafes around the country.

Appleby Farms is also selling its icecream in Singapore with plans to launch in a number of other Southeast Asian markets soon. Chief executive Mike Brown, a former winemaker and strategic planner at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), said the company had undertaken extensive research into markets that could be viable for its premium icecream.

‘‘Australia, alongside New Zealand, is our next big play.

‘‘There is a great interest in A2 protein in Australia. A2 milk is over 10 per cent of the market now,’’ Brown said.

He said Appleby Farms would be the only A2 milk protein icecream in the Australian market and would initially sell to independent grocers.

The company would make a soft launch in April to build brand awareness ahead of next summer, he said.

Southeast Asian markets were also on the radar but he would not name them.

The domestic market was small with a number of premium competitors like Ka¯ piti Icecream, Lewis Road Creamery and Oob, as well as some large multinationals. But Appleby Farms was not competing at that end of the market, Brown said. ‘‘We are not Tip Top and we never will be. We are firmly premium and a big part of our growth will be export.’’

Main flavours include chocolate brownie, vanilla bean, salted caramel, coffee, boysenberry and passionfruit, which are sold in 850 millilitre tubs for $11.99. The most popular flavours are chocolate brownie, vanilla bean and salted caramel.

The business had planned for export from its inception, Brown said. The icecream factory was built to handle greater volumes, and currently runs at about 15 per cent capacity.

Appleby Farms collects about 9000 litres of milk a week but expects to double that next summer when the company hopes to begin selling into large Australian grocery stores.

Most of the milk comes from two farms but other farmer shareholders are in the process of converting their herds to A2 and will be able to provide more milk as the company grows.

‘‘Milk won’t be a constraint, because of the way we have been founded by farmers,’’ Brown said.

The farmers were paid more for their milk than the Fonterra farmgate price, co-founder and dairy farmer Murray King said.

He said the quality of New Zealand icecream was exceptional due to the unique way Kiwis farmed.

‘‘New Zealand food producers do not appreciate how unique they are and the quality of the produce they generate,’’ he said.

‘‘I guess what is challenging or frustrating is you have got icecream coming from the United States or other places which are clearly inferior but they have got bigger marketing budgets than we do,’’ King said.

Appleby Farms was founded by four families as a way to add value to their milk and earn a better return.

The factory is close to the two farms that supply it.

King said he was working to improve farming practices.

Changes on the farm included the introduction of dung beetles to help with building soil organic matter, diversified pasture, and planting high-value trees on runoff slopes and others in pasture for shade.

Irrigation was only used when needed to avoid leaching.

‘‘We are trying not to do things in a degrading way.

‘‘We try to minimise waste because when you lose something out of the system it is ending up somewhere else.’’

Brown said Appleby Farms was working towards ISO 14001 environmental standards accreditation and was researching alternative packaging materials.

He wanted to double market share in New Zealand by the end of the year. It currently has about 3 per cent of the premium take home category, he said.

Part of the strategy was to sell into food service. Appleby had 12-15 flavour offerings for this at any one time. Sorbets might also become a feature in that category, Brown said.