Tip Top to cream profit from innovative machine

By SIMON HENDERY

A ground-breaking novelty ice cream-making machine designed by Tip Top has attracted worldwide interest and could earn the New Zealand company royalties in up to 21 countries.

Research and development staff at Tip Top, now owned by dairy giant Fonterra, created the machine to make Moritz Extreme ice creams, which contain chunks of truffle and praline embedded in chocolate-coated ice cream.

The company said several ice-cream manufacturers had tried unsuccessfully to add chunks to such products.

It now has patents pending in 21 countries for the prototype and interest from other ice-cream manufacturers is high.

Tip Top has signed a licence deal with US food-processing equipment firm Waukesha Cherry-Burrell, and the two companies will unveil a prototype of the machine at the National Dairy Show in Chicago in a fortnight.

Managing director Ray O'Connor said that although Tip Top's export market was confined to the Pacific rim, the joint venture with Waukesha Cherry-Burrell allowed the company to benefit from its design expertise on a large scale.

He estimated the deal would add 8 to 10 per cent to Tip Top's exports, now worth $25 million.

"It is a significant milestone for Tip Top and a feather in the cap of Kiwi ingenuity."