After Ben & Jerry’s we will present Häagen Dazs. It is an American ice cream brand founded by Reuben and Rose Mattus in New York in 1926. M.Mattus decided to call it Häagen Dazs in 1961 in order to convey some values like the know-how of the old continent and a traditional atmosphere.

The brand’s development is due to a strong word-of-mouth during the seventies. In the middle of the decade the first Häagen Dazs shop is open in New York by Reuben daughter, Doris. The success was immediate and they launch a lot of other shops in the East Coast of the United States of America.

In 1983, Reuben Mattus sold Häagen Dazs to The Pillsburry Company, with the agreement to remain committed to the tradition of superior quality and in- novation on which Häagen-Dazs was first founded. When General Mills acquired The Pillsbury Company in 2001, Häagen Dazs also belongs to General Mills. Also in 2001, Nestlé obtained the rights to sell Häagen-Dazs in the U.S. and Canada from General Mills who owns the brand and sells it in the rest of the world. 

”The philosophy of Häagen-Dazs is simple: find the purest and finest in- gredients in the world and craft them into the best ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt available. It is a way of doing business that is so demanding, as it is uncommon. And it is the reason why the brand has epitomized fine ice cream for half a century.” (Häagen-Dazs Company, n.d.) 

The taste of their ice cream is extremely important for Häagen Dazs. To insure a perfect taste to their customer, Häagen Dazs do not hesitate to take local products worldwide (Belgium chocolate or Madagascar vanilla for example).

Häagen Dazs have a strong positioning as a luxury good. They want to associate this brand with romanticism, pleasure and moments of exception. They insist on the fact that their ice creams are available worldwide and every place who an Häagen Dazs is eaten is a special place.

After introducing the French ice cream market, we will present the different main brands more deeply in several articles in order to understand their positioning, values etc…

We will start with the brand Ben & Jerry’s. Created in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, this American brand succeeded to impose itself in a global competitive market, and especially in French.

The owners based their brand around three strong values in favor of the society, the economy and around the product. In fact, since the 1980’s, they established initiatives for all the people involved in their ice cream production and tended to have a sustainable development. They could help family farmers and promote sustainable agriculture; choose fair trade products like vanilla, chocolate, milk etc…, or even around the packaging.

Their business model based on transparency and their goal which is to positively change the world seduced more and more customers and that is the reason why they had to move their production from the initial manufacture in a transformed oil station.

Ben & Jerry has a strong positioning, a significant brand image and that is why it makes that brand unique: its original flavors, its singular ads, its strong involvement in public debates (environment, homosexual marriage etc…), their values and the fact that the brand is close to its customers.

All this background interested the Unilever group, which purchased it in 2000. Once again, the founders succeeded to impose their sustainable values: Unilever has to deposit funds yearly to promote Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, which supports comminatory projects in the USA. We can clearly notice their huge success, with a strong and sustainable development, even in France, where Ben & Jerry’s represents around 15% of the total French ice cream market.

An overview of the Ice Cream market in France

French people seem to be ice cream lovers since they consume about 400 million liters of ice cream a year (about 6 liters per person). However, it is a pretty seasonal market since ice cream manufacturers realize 70% of their turnover during summer (between April and September) and the sales highly depend on the weather. We can identify two types of consumption : in home and out-of-home. 

The Ice Cream market is a very dynamic one, with numerous brands and growing sales. 

Powerful brands 

Let's begin with a brief presentation of the main ice cream brands on the French market.

• Magnum, Carte d'Or, Ben&Jerry's and Cornetto owned by Unilever

• Extrême and La Laitière owned by Nestlé

• Häagen Dazs

• Private Labels

Different segments

• Bars
• Ice creams on a stick
• Ice cream tubs
• Cones
• Cups
• Creams

Different Targets

To meet the needs of all the consumers

• Kids
• Teenagers
• Young Adults
• Adults
• Families