Magnolia (brand)
Magnolia is a food and beverage brand owned by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and used by its various subsidiaries. The brand was commercially established by SMC (then known as San Miguel Brewery) as an ice cream brand in 1925.
The history of the Magnolia brand can be traced back to 1899 when an American by the name of William J. Schober arrived in the Philippines as a cook in the volunteer army and introduced the “magnolia pieâ€, “magnolia ice cream†and “magnolia ice-dropâ€. In 1925, Schober sold his business interests to SMC (then known as San Miguel Brewery). The dairy plant at 526 Calle Aviles in the San Miguel district of Manila stood on the same street as the site of the original San Miguel brewery (6 Calle Aviles). A year later, the dairy plant was relocated to Calle Echague (now C. Palanca Sr., Street) in Quiapo, Manila. In 1970, production was transferred to a new modern facility in Aurora Boulevard, Quezon City, known as the Magnolia Dairy Products Plant. The facility also housed the main branch of its Magnolia ice cream parlor.
In 1972, SMC entered the poultry business with its first breeder farm in Cavite. The following year, SMC established its first chicken processing plant in Muntinlupa to produce Magnolia Fresh Chicken. The poultry business, along with its B-Meg feeds business were operated as the Feeds and Livestock Division of SMC until it was spun-off as a new subsidiary (San Miguel Foods, Inc.) in 1991.
In 1981, SMC spun off its butter and margarine production to a new subsidiary named Philippine Dairy Products Corporation (now known as Magnolia, Inc.), a joint-venture with New Zealand Dairy Board, with its production facility based in the Aurora Boulevard plant.
In 1996, SMC transferred its ice cream and milk businesses to a new company, Magnolia-Nestlé Corporation, a joint-venture with Nestlé. SMC retained ownership of the Magnolia brand since it was also being used by other SMC products. SMC also retained ownership of the Aurora Boulevard property. In 1998, SMC withdrew from the Magnolia-Nestlé venture and a non-compete clause barred it from the ice cream and milk businesses for five years. Upon the expiration of the non-compete clause in 2004, SMC revived its ice cream and milk businesses through its subsidiary, Magnolia, Inc. On May 19, 2010, Magnolia, Inc. inaugurated its main ice cream production facility in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
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