Unilever acquires Weis from founders

Unilever announced last week that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Australian ice-cream company Weis. Unilever already owns over 400 consumer brands, including Ben & Jerry’s and Lipton, and will now add Weis to this list.

Founded in 1957 by Les Weis, Weis is a family-owned Australian ice-cream manufacturer from Toowoomba. Known for its iconic Fruito Bar, an ice-cream flavoured with pineapple, banana and passionfruit, the company has used local fruit and produce to deliver frozen desserts to Australian consumers and exported its products to countries such as Singapore, China, Japan and the US. As a global giant in the food industry, Unilever’s ability to push Weis’s global initiative made the deal attractive to Weis.

“This acquisition will bring Weis the benefits of scale, strong market access and ice-cream category expertise to help take the business to the next level in its growth,” said Unilever’s CEO, Clive Stiff.

Weis Managing Director Julie Weis also highlighted that the acquisition will expose Weis to a larger global market and create new opportunities for the business and its staff.

“Unilever’s scale will enable greater market access and growth that will provide opportunities for our extended Weis family of staff, suppliers, customers and of course our wonderful consumers.”

This acquisition was mutually beneficial, as Stiff suggested it will bolster Unilever’s Australian ice-cream range in which it already owns Streets.

“Our Streets ice-cream brand was created here in Australia by Edwin ‘Ted’ Street in the 1920s and is one of the nation’s best loved brands so ice-cream is strategically important to Unilever Australia. Weis is another great Australian success story — a story that will continue with Unilever.”

Weis’s support of the local fruit industry also aligns with Unilever’s vision of using premium ingredients to offer new flavours to its consumers and meet growing consumer demand.

The Weis family decided to sell the business after they were reassured by Unilever’s understanding of their brand and their commitment to continue to manufacture out of the factory in Toowoomba. Although the company had been passed down two generations, Les Weis explained the business value behind this move.

“Val has always said to me ‘Business is like a wheelbarrow, it doesn’t go anywhere unless someone pushes it’ and I think Unilever will give Weis just the push it needs.”