The son of one of Tip Top's founders is glad the company is staying in New Zealand and hopes its new owners, Foneri, will continue to produce a high-quality product that Kiwis will respect.
Photo: Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye/ 123rf
The well-known New Zealand ice-cream company was sold to dairy giant Fonterra in 2001, and is now being taken over by Froneri - a global joint venture owned by Nestle and R&R Ice Cream and third-largest ice cream company in the world.
Many ice cream fans have urged the new owners not to change Tip Top's classic Kiwi flavours such as Hokey Pokey and French Vanilla, but the son of the company's founder is confident it will maintain a high quality.
Len Malaghan founded the company with his friend Albert Hayman in 1936 after they'd opened their first ice cream parlour on Manners Street in Wellington.
His eldest son Neil said Tip Top was quite small when it was launched 83 years ago, and despite its growth, development and change of ownership over the years he believed the product had been well maintained.
He said his father was still passionate about the ice cream brand right up until his death in 1967.
"Died at an early age, but Tip Top is something that he was very keen on and devoted most of his energies to. It was certainly his lifelong passion."
"The acutal product itself has been pretty much unchanged" - Neil Malaghan
Neil himself worked at the company for nearly 30 years.
"I joined the company virtually straight after school. I worked for the company right from the very early days," he said.
"Being on the production saw and then driving vehicles, doing deliveries and then I worked my way progressively up the ladder. My father was pretty insistent that I learnt all the aspects of the business and the product."
He said he believed his father would be proud of the brand if he was still alive today.
"I think he would be amazed and very proud on how well it's been developed over this many years. Fonterra has certainly made a big investment introducing a quality product. Their effort has been outstanding."
He was not too worried about the potential for change under new ownership.
"Well, one never knows what the future holds, but it appears that there's going to be a new owner who obviously thinks there's a lot of good will in the brand and they will be, I presume, expecting to develop the brand and enhance it's value.
"Different owners have different expectations of what the product can be, but all the owners have always maintained a high grade of product which is indicative of why it's such a well-respected brand in New Zealand.
Neil said he was heavily involved in the early days of the Tip Top Trumpet ice cream cone which he described as a "pretty big product at the time to bring into New Zealand".
Tip Top Ice cream factory in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: 123rf
"We had a group of people that were full time working on enhancing the product. It's continuous product evaluation and improvement and Fonterra's certainly been doing the same ... because nothing stands still today. You've got to keep improving and developing with the changing pallets of the people really."
His father Len helped create the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, an immunotherapy research lab, with funds donated to the doctors who helped prolong his own life.
Neil said Tip Top was a proud legacy.
"My Father, it was his passion in life.
"Very proud and it's certainly great to see that it's still domiciled in New Zealand and working for the betterment of all."