It is easy to understand why Queensland is known as the Sunshine State. And there is a locally grown ice cream brand that’s part of that experience.
“It is synonymous with people going to the beach and seeing the ice cream vans,” says Frosty Boy managing director Dirk Pretorius.
“Australians have grown up with Frosty Boy. It was very well known through the seventies and eighties. And since then we have continued to supply great tasting products.”
For decades Frosty Boy’s soft serve ice cream has remained popular with children, at home and around the globe.
And since South African-born Dirk Pretorius took over 20 years ago, he has steadily grown the Gold Coast business, both locally and globally.
One of Frosty Boy's original Gold Coast outlets. Source: Supplied Frosty Boy
“And we manufacture up to two million serves per day.”
The company was started by three entrepreneurs on the Gold Coast in the 1970's. They had a a fast food chain and wanted to sell their own soft serve ice cream.
Back in the day, the company even made its own ice cream cones at its first factory at Slacks Creek. It is still Australian owned, and has since built a world class manufacturing facility at Yatala, 40 minutes drive south of Surfers Paradise.
Despite the challenges of exporting during the COVID-19 pandemic, Frosty Boy has forged ahead this year and expanded its reach into Africa, securing a new market in Nigeria.
The company has worked closely with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Austrade. Through its $72 million AgriBusiness Expansion Initiative, ABEI, Austrade is helping a range of exporters like Frosty Boy overcome COVID export challenges.
“When we started to work with Austrade, we looked at a few different markets and Nigeria was obviously a standout,” says Mr Pretorius. “Nigeria has a population of 200 million plus people.
“However, Nigeria also has difficult regulatory requirements. Austrade has been an amazing help, working out what we need to do in terms of the customer, the products and getting it into the country.
“Obviously we couldn't travel ourselves, so the team at Austrade did all the market research on the ground for us, and the introductions.”
With more than 85 offices in 46 countries, Austrade provides not only contacts but advice and information about local market preferences.
David Lawson, Austrade’s Assistant General Manger of High Growth Export Services, is proud to be part of Frosty Boy’s export success.
“Even while the first shipment was on the water, the customer [in Nigeria] had already made a second purchase order for another load of products,” he says.
Austrade's David Lawson. Source: Supplied Austrade
"Their commitment to research and development to understand the markets has given them the freedom to be able to pivot and adjust their business in the face of these huge disruptions to supply chains.”
During the pandemic Frosty Boy has also expanded into a range of immune-boosting nutritional supplements, its first foray into the lucrative health and wellbeing segment.
Demand for healthy and sustainable products is growing rapidly. Australia’s science organisation the CSIRO forecasts the wellness sector to be worth $25 billion by 2030.
This means it would make up around 10 per cent of Australia’s food and agribusiness production by the end of next decade.
Frosty Boy Managing Director Dirk Pretorius. Source: SBS
Mr Pretorius grew up on a dairy farm in South Africa and migrated to Australia in 2001. He is proud to have grown the export side of the business and vastly expanded the flavour range.
“We manufacture more than 80 different vanilla ice creams here at Frosty Boy. And they were developed by working with the international flavour houses, work out which is the most popular vanilla in each specific country.”
He says its secret to success is using fresh milk, sourced from Australia and New Zealand, and converting it to powder form for easy transport.
“It is a big benefit for the customer, because they literally only add water to it. So, at store level, it is stirred up for 30 seconds and then they can put it in the machine and off they go, the product is ready to use.
Frosty Boy manufactures up to two million serves of ice cream daily worldwide. Source: SBS
“We have an amazing future yet. We are already established in so many countries and we are seen as a global player,” he says.
“We are big enough globally to support our customer base with their expansion, yet still small enough to really give that attention to detail in terms of customer focus.
"And we are smart enough to continually innovate, and that should enable us to be really successful.”
For more informaiton on ABEI contact Austrade www.austrade.gov.au
