Graeme Pitkethly, Unilever’s chief financial officer, admits the consumer goods giant “had missed the trend in the US” for healthier ice cream and that Halo Top is taking share “very, very quickly”. Pitching themselves as greener, more local, more authentic or healthier than mainstream products, these upstarts often sell directly to consumers via online channels and use social media to attract attention. In the process, Halo Top has become a poster child for the new reality shaking the consumer goods industry: the rise of challenger brands in everything from razors to dog food. The two Californians, who knew little about ice cream or retail when they started out, surprised many industry executives who scoffed at the idea that a newcomer could break into a category that has long been dominated by multinationals Unilever and Nestlé. But now we’ve gotten to a level of stability so we can actually enjoy it, innovate and build the business.” “It was so hard to build the company in the first few years - we almost went bankrupt. We outsell Häagen-Dazs in Tesco ,” says Bouton with a hint of disbelief. “So far in the UK, we’ve seen the same meteoric growth as in the US. The looming challenge will be to encourage international consumers to develop a taste for Halo Top by adapting its sales pitch to countries with differing food cultures and dietary habits. When Justin Woolverton, above, turned to outsourced manufacturing, it proved a key factor in scaling up the business To build on its success in the US, Halo Top has embarked on an international expansion drive, launching last year in the UK and Canada with flavours such as Peanut Butter Cup, Mint Chip and Birthday Cake. Woolverton and Bouton have retained majority control after declining several takeover offers and raising $1.5m from a combination of friends and family, angel investors and crowdfunding. The private company does not disclose financial information, but its co-founders say it has about 120 employees, and is profitable and growing rapidly. In barely six years, Halo Top has become North America’s sixth-biggest ice cream brand, with a 3.7 per cent market share in 2018, according to Euromonitor data. Halo Top’s simple proposition, paired with the online marketing savvy of Woolverton, 39, and his business partner Douglas Bouton, 33, has won over calorie-counting consumers. A 473ml tub of Halo Top’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough will set you back 360 calories, compared with 1,120 for the Ben & Jerry’s equivalent. Halo Top offers the indulgence of premium ice cream but with much less of the sugar and fat contained in traditional brands such as Ben & Jerry’s or Häagen-Dazs. The slogans encapsulate the promise that has earned the low-calorie, high-protein ice cream a legion of fans since it was created by Justin Woolverton as an experiment in his Los Angeles kitchen in 2011. Many of the flavors have very small pieces of add ins like cookies and chocolate chips to keep the calories in check – understandable, yet still a bit disappointing.Lift the gold lid of a tub of Halo Top ice cream and you will be greeted with a cheery message printed on the seal, such as “Save the bowl”, “Stop when you hit the bottom” or “Guilt-free zone”. For this reason, the texture of low calorie ice creams are nowhere near as creamy. They also help bind the low-calorie ingredients together without copious amounts of fat. Since these types of ingredients aren’t digested normally, eating large amounts of has been found to sometimes cause stomach upset. You will find some sugar added, but much of the sweet flavor comes from the chemically-processed sugar substitute stevia. This means the use of the indigestible substances including the sugar alcohol called “erythritol” and supplemental fibers. What sets Halo Top apart is what’s used to displace much of the sugar and fat. Halo Top ingredient list starts off in a similar fashion with milk, cream and eggs there’s also guar gum in there. Traditional vanilla ice cream is made from cream, milk, sugar, eggs and stabilizers like guar gum.
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