Breyers facts for kids
 |
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| Product type | Frozen dessert |
|---|---|
| Owner |
|
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1866 |
| Markets | United States Canada |
| Previous owners | Kraft |
Breyers is a well-known brand of ice cream that began in 1866. It was started by William A. Breyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Contents
The Story of Breyers Ice Cream
How Breyers Started
In 1866, William A. Breyer began making and selling iced cream in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first sold it from his home. Later, he used a horse and wagon to sell his ice cream on the streets. His son, Henry Breyer, officially made the business a company in 1908.
Changes in Ownership
The Breyer Ice Cream Company was sold in 1926 to a company called National Dairy Products Corporation. This company later changed its name to Kraftco in 1968, and then to Kraft by 1975. In 1993, Kraft sold its ice cream brands to Unilever. However, Kraft kept the right to use the Breyers name for yogurt products.
What's in Breyers Products?
Ingredients Over Time
Before 2006, Breyers was famous for making ice cream with only a few natural ingredients. This meant their ice cream was known for being very simple and pure.
Changes to Ingredients
In recent years, Breyers has changed many of its recipes. This happened as part of efforts to reduce costs. Now, many of their products include more ingredients. These can change the taste and how the dessert feels.
For example, a Breyers "Frozen Dairy Dessert" might now have many ingredients. These can include milk, skim milk, sugar, corn syrup, and cream. Other ingredients might be maltodextrin, whey, and different kinds of gums like guar gum or carob bean gum.
"Frozen Dairy Dessert" Label
Because of these changes, many Breyers products no longer have enough milk and cream to be called "ice cream" by law. So, in the United States, they are now often labeled "Frozen Dairy Dessert." In Canada, they are called "Frozen Dessert."
Where Breyers Was Made
For many years, a large factory near Boston in Framingham, Massachusetts made over 30% of Breyers products. This included most of the products sold in the Northeastern U.S.. However, this factory was closed in March 2011 as part of Unilever's cost-cutting plans.
Breyers Marketing and Ads
In the 1980s, when Breyers made only all-natural ice cream, they had a famous TV ad. It showed a child trying to read the long list of artificial ingredients from another ice cream brand. The child had trouble saying the words. Then, the child easily read the simple ingredients on a Breyers package, like milk, cream, and strawberry.
Breyers vs. Dreyer's: A Common Mix-Up
Why the Confusion?
In the Western U.S. and Texas, people sometimes mix up Breyers ice cream with Dreyer's ice cream. This is because both names sound similar.
Henry Breyer started Breyers in 1908 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy started Edy's Grand Ice Cream in 1928 in Oakland, California.
How the Names Changed
The confusion began in 1953 when "Edy's Grand Ice Cream" changed its name to "Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream." To help fix this, Dreyer's changed its brand name back to "Edy's Grand" in areas where Breyers was well-known, like the East Coast. This happened in 1981.
Around the same time, Breyers started selling its ice cream in the Western U.S. and Texas. Unlike Dreyer's, Breyers kept its name the same across the country. So, today, you can find both Breyers and Dreyer's products in stores in the western parts of the U.S. and Texas.
Breyers Yogurt
Breyers Yogurt was a separate brand of yogurt. It was first owned by Kraft Foods. Later, it was owned by a Canadian company called CoolBrands International.
The yogurt was made under a special agreement with Unilever. This agreement ended in April 2011, and the Breyers Yogurt line was stopped.
See also
- Henry West Breyer Sr. House
- List of ice cream brands
