New American Ice Cream began as an ice cream parlour catering to US armed forces personnel visiting Auckland (New Zealand) for rest and recreation during World War II. At the time of this case study, New American had grown under the influence of two young food technologists to have four production sites scattered across both main islands of New Zealand, including a large new state-of-the-art factory in Auckland, and had become jointly owned by a large company (Goodman Fielder) and an industry marketing body (the New Zealand Dairy Board).

New American was very much the minor player in a New Zealand ice cream industry dominated by the US food giant General Foods and its pervasive brand Tip Top. New American made and distributed a full range of ice cream products to corner shops, wholesalers and supermarkets. The company’s production capacity, with the new Auckland factory in the mix, was at least double its sales volume. As a result, the business was unprofitable with a net loss of NZ$2 million on turnover of NZ$28 million. There were 300 employees from a variety of ethnicities, including New Zealand Europeans, New Zealand Maori and those from Pacific Island nations.