{{Short description|Australian ice cream brand}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox company | name = Peters Ice Cream | logo = Peters_Ice_Cream.png | type = Subsidiary | founded = 1907 | founder = Fred Peters | hq_location = Victoria, Australia | parent = Froneri | website = {{official URL}} }} '''Peters Ice Cream''' is an Australian ice cream brand, now a subsidiary of European food firm Froneri. It was originally developed in Sydney by American businessman Fred Peters in 1907, using his mother's recipe.
== History == Peters was established by Fred Peters in 1907 in Paddington, New South Wales as the ''Peters' American Delicacy Company''. Business flourished and in 1923 a new manufacturing plant was built in Redfern. In 1927, Peters then established an associated sister company ''Peters' Arctic Delicacy Co. Ltd'' in Brisbane, with a branch located in Newcastle. In 1929, Peters further expanded when associated companies were established in Victoria, Western Australia and Townsville, with a new manufacturing plant in Rockhampton.
Peters was largely responsible for introducing to Australia the small refrigerated cabinet, which he hired out to retailers. The red and cream corporate identity was adopted in New South Wales and Queensland, whilst green and cream were used in Victoria and Western Australia.<ref>[http://www.fonterra.com/wps/wcm/connect/Fonterra_Australia_en/Fonterra/Hub%20Sites/News%20and%20Media/Media%20Releases/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business Fonterra sells Australian ice cream business] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924014428/http://www.fonterra.com/wps/wcm/connect/Fonterra_Australia_en/Fonterra/Hub%20Sites/News%20and%20Media/Media%20Releases/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business |date=24 September 2015 }} at Fonterra official site, 29 April 2009. Accessed 22 January 2014</ref>
By the 1960s all ice cream production for the Peters brand, with the exception of ''Peters Western Australia'' which owned and operated its own separate factory, was handled by the Melbourne-based ''Petersville Australia Limited.''
In the late 1980s, the non-Western Australian Peters businesses were taken over by the Adelaide Steamship Company (AdSteam) and were then acquired by Pacific Dunlop (now known as Ansell) upon AdSteam's collapse. In the mid-1990s, Pacific Dunlop sold its ice cream division as Peters to Nestlé.
The separate Peters Western Australia business was owned by Peters and Brownes Foods, which was acquired by Fonterra in 2006. In 2009 Fonterra sold Peters and Brownes Foods to Nestlé, giving Nestlé nationwide control of the Peters brand.<ref>[http://www.fonterra.com/wps/wcm/connect/Fonterra_Australia_en/Fonterra/Hub%20Sites/News%20and%20Media/Media%20Releases/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business Fonterra sells Australian ice cream business] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924014428/http://www.fonterra.com/wps/wcm/connect/Fonterra_Australia_en/Fonterra/Hub%20Sites/News%20and%20Media/Media%20Releases/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business/Fonterra%20sells%20Australian%20ice%20cream%20business |date=24 September 2015 }} at Fonterra official site, 29 April 2009. Accessed 22 January 2014</ref>
In 2012, the consolidated Peters was purchased from Nestlé by Pacific Equity Partners,<ref>[http://www.nestle.com.au/media/pressreleases/nestle-sells-peters-ice-cream-business-to-pacific-equity-partners Nestlé sells Peters Ice Cream business to Pacific Equity Partners] at Nestlé official website, 29 June 2012. Accessed 22 January 2014</ref><ref>[https://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalaustralia/2012/06/29/pep-acquires-nestles-peters-ice-cream/ PEP Acquires Nestle's Peters Ice Cream] at Deal Journal Australia, 29 June 2012. (Now part of The Wall Street Journal.) Accessed 22 January 2014</ref> with the Australian licence to produce sub-brands that were retained by Nestlé, e.g., Drumstick. In May 2014, Pacific Equity Partners sold Peters to the European company R&R Ice Cream.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-27/peters-ice-cream-sold-to-french-food-giant/5481658|title=Peters ice cream sold to European food giant|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|author=Michael Janda|date=27 May 2014|accessdate=27 May 2014}}</ref>
On April 19, 2018, R&R Ice Cream merged with Nestlé's ice cream business to form Froneri, which became the corporate parent of Peters.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.nestle.com.au/en/media/nestle-create-froneri-joint-venture |title=Nestlé and R&R create Froneri joint venture |date=19 April 2018|accessdate=19 April 2018}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery widths="180px" heights="180px" perrow="4"> Image:Old Peters Ice Cream advertisement, Old Gippstown.JPG|Old advertisement on the side of the former Narracan General Store at Old Gippstown, Moe Image:Peters ice cream Unthank & Opperman.tif|Advertisement for Peters Ice Cream from 1939 featuring Valda Unthank and Hubert Opperman.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article180256179|title=Advertising|newspaper=Sporting Globe|date=13 December 1939|page=13|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> </gallery>
==See also== *Michelides Tobacco Factory, a building which was for a while the Peters Ice Cream factory in Perth, Western Australia. *Zig and Zag (Australian performers), a clown duo who advertised Peters Ice Cream
==References== {{reflist|small}} * Australian Dictionary of Biography, by G.P.Walsh - Volume 11 (MUP), 1988
==External links== *{{official website}} *[https://www.froneri.com Froneri Limited] *[http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110214b.htm Fred Peters biography] *[https://vimeo.com/515097668 Research Reveals: Queensland's Ice Cream History and the Peters Ice Cream Factory], State Library of Queensland Vimeo
Category:Australian brands Category:Ice cream brands Category:Dairy products companies of Australia Category:Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies Category:Froneri