The Ice Cream Wars Heat Up

Since October, a new lineup of ice cream with postmodern flavors such as Turmeric Chai & Cinnamon, Cold Brew & Chocolate Chip, and Matcha & Fudge has been popping up in U.S. freezers.

- Thomas Buckley

The brand—the deliberately misspelled Culture Republick—promises not only gustatory delight but also better digestive health with billions of live probiotic bacteria in every tub. The logo, in bright yellows, greens, and reds, shows a big “C” poised like Pac-Man to munch into the little “r.” And the makers pledge to donate 10 percent of profits to local arts groups. In short, everything about the brand screams anti-establishment, the kind of thing you’d more likely find at a food co-op than at Walmart, Safeway, or Piggly Wiggly. It’s made by Unilever.

Culture Republick is an effort by the world’s biggest producer of ice cream to counter the growth of the likes of Halo Top, which last year became the category’s No. 4 brand in the U.S., with $645 million in sales, says Euromonitor International. Unilever’s stable of more than a dozen brands, including Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, and Breyers, last year made up about 10 percent of its global revenue—some $6 billion in total sales. But the Anglo-Dutch food giant knows it needs healthier offerings. At an investment conference in London this summer, Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly lamented that Unilever had “missed the trend in the U.S. for low-calorie, high-protein ice cream” and its stateside creamery business had been slow to respond to Halo Top.