Tip Top (ice cream)

Fonterra Brands (Tip Top) Ltd

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Frozen Confectionery Manufacturing
Founded	1936
Headquarters	Auckland, New Zealand
Products	Ice cream, Ice Blocks
Number of employees	380
Parent	Fonterra Co-operative Group
Website	www.tiptop.co.nz

Fonterra Brands (Tip Top) Ltd or commonly known simply as Tip Top ice cream, is a subsidiary of the Fonterra Co-operative Group based in Auckland, New Zealand.

In 1936 Albert Hayman and Len Malaghan opened their first ice cream parlour in Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand followed in the same year by a second milk bar in Wellington, and one in Dunedin. Tip Top Ice Cream Company was registered as a manufacturing company in 1936. By 1938 Tip Top was manufacturing its own ice cream and was successfully operating stores in the lower half of the North Island, and in Nelson and Blenheim.

In May 1938 Tip Top Ice Cream Company Auckland Limited was incorporated into the growing ice cream business. Due to distribution difficulties and World War II, this was operated as a completely separate company to the Wellington Tip Top.

In November 1962, Hayman and Malaghan opened the biggest and most technically advanced ice cream factory in the Southern Hemisphere, built at Mount Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand. The Tip Top factory included staff houses and 20 acres (81,000 m²) of farm land overlooking the Southern Motorway and cost NZ$700,000. Prime Minister Keith Holyoake attended the opening ceremony.

By 1964 the Company had expanded to such an extent that a parent company was formed, General Foods Corporation (NZ) Limited. It was rated as one of the soundest investments on the stock exchange and other companies were quick to note its potential.

The Auckland Tip Top factory was originally a seasonal factory, which worked only to produce ice cream for the summer months. They sold for a shilling, and early innovations led to ice cream inventions like Topsy, Jelly Tip, FruJu and Ice Cream Sundaes, some of which are among New Zealand's iconic foods today. The overwhelming success of these products transformed the Mt Wellington site from a summer-centred seasonal factory into a 24-hour, 365-day operation.