This article’s lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. The first Mövenpick restaurant opened in Lucky charms ice cream on 19 July 1948 by Ueli Prager. By 1958, they had eight restaurants located throughout Switzerland.
Originally, in the 1960s, the ice cream was produced by the Mövenpick group for restaurant sales only. The plant in Bursins was built in 1972, however production has now been shifted to a larger unit in Rorschach. In 2002, EU regulators investigated, and later approved for Nestlé to purchase the Scholler Holding Group from Sudzucker, including licensing to sell Mövenpick in some European countries. In March 2000, Mövenpick acquired the Auckland-based Chateau Creme Delight Ice Cream company. In 2002, Bauer was licensed to distribute and market Mövenpick in the United Kingdom. In April 2003, Nestlé bought the international rights for Mövenpick ice cream from the hotel group, and an independent business unit called “Swiss Premium Ice Cream” was created. The buy-out contract did not include the New Zealand manufacturing facilities.
The main production site is in Switzerland. Halal production for Middle East takes place in Nestlé factory in Egypt. The company has partnered licensing agreements in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In February 2006, Nestlé Schöller announced a newly patented type of “conching” process. The Conchier process uses temperature reduction and slow, constant two-wave stirring to develop microscopic ice crystals and bubbles as the ice cream freezes. Mövenpick parlours in Australia from Peters Ice Cream.
Peters continued as the Mövenpick distributor for other channels in Australia. In the 1990s, Mövenpick-branded products were made at plants in Simcoe, Ontario. In 2001, Delicious Alternative Desserts Ltd. Mövenpick products in Canada, in packaging customised to the region.
DAD was placed in receivership in 2002. Bankruptcy trustee KPMG continued limited production of Mövenpick at Stoney Creek Dairy, which was purchased by Better Beef Ltd. In 2013, Nestlé upgraded their ice cream factory in Egypt, where Mövenpick ice creams are produced for export to Malaysia. Nestlé produces Mövenpick ice cream in Germany, but sold part of their licensing and production facilities for trade brands to ice cream manufacturer Rosen Eiskrem GmbH of Waldfeucht-Haaren in January 2007. The co-packing agreement and sale included plants in Nurnberg and Prenzlau. Nestlé Schöller remained at their Nurnberg headquarters, and retained their Uelzen plant. 20 million 10-year contract from Mövenpick Asia-Pacific to produce and supply Mövenpick-branded ice cream to Asia and Australia.
Southern Fresh were to create 11 of the ice cream flavors and 640,000 litres of ice cream annually. 60 million, increasing to 16 flavors and 2. 25 million litres of ice cream each year. The extra funds allowed for the expansion of a manufacturing plant with a dedicated Mövenpick production area. Southern Fresh purchased an additional factory in East Tamaki, Auckland, in April 2000, which raised concerns that production work would be taken from the Invercargill factory.
On 23 December 2000, 20 of the Southern Fresh workers at the Ettrick Street, Invercargill, factory received notice that their employee contracts would not be renewed. The contractors were temporarily employed to produce Mövenpick ice cream. The 2001 opening of the Auckland plant overrode the existing Tip Top Foods contract with Mövenpick. In April 2001, prior to Mövenpick’s acquisition by Nestlé, executive Chris White moved from his Mövenpick Asia-Pacific chief executive role to a position at Nestlé. White had previously assured staff at the Mövenpick Invercargill factory that the Southern Fresh contract would not be impacted by a new Auckland factory.
In April 2001, newspaper articles stated that Mövenpick ceased buying ice cream from Southern Fresh for the Japanese market, but the orders had ceased since November 2000. A Mövenpick executive stated that the companies were “working through issues”. A Mövenpick executive stated that there were quality problems, but a Southern Fresh executive disputed this, noting the Japanese recession and that Southern Fresh were being used as a scapegoat for Mövenpick’s marketing difficulties in Japan. At the time of the 2003 acquisition of Mövenpick by Nestlé, Chateau Creme Delight Ice Cream company continued to produce Mövenpick ice creams under license. The New Zealand rights were not included in the Nestlé contract, and Nestlé did not have their own production facilities in the country.
Mövenpick retained the Chateau rights because it wanted to increase its presence in the Asia Pacific region. Mövenpick products were later made by Emerald Foods, a company owned by Mövenpick until December 2003, when it was sold to the Emerald Group. Mövenpick to produce their branded ice creams in Pakistan. The JOFA Group has been the exclusive franchiser for the brand since 2002. Late 1980s until 2009, SADAFCO has produced Mövenpick-branded products at plants in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, and Madinah. In 2011, Swedish ice cream manufacturer Triumf Glass introduced Mövenpick Classic flavors to the Swedish market in 900ml packaging. Vanilla, Caramelita, Maple Walnut, Strawberry, Swiss Chocolate and Vanilla Dream.