AS Balbiino starts exporting ice cream to Ireland

30.06.2010

A home ice cream manufacturer AS Balbiino has started exporting to Ireland, producing a briquette-type vanilla ice cream with cocoa-flavoured biscuits known in Estonia under the trade name of Raks, to one of the leading dairy enterprises of Ireland and the UK.

The first shipment of Balbiino ice cream to be exported has already been sold on the Irish market, and contracts for further quantities have been signed.

Hindrek Männik, the sales and business manager of AS Balbiino, states that, “The feedback from our Irish partners has been very gratifying as the sale of ice cream produced by Balbiino has started successfully; Irish ice cream lovers have discovered it and welcomed it warmly. Our Irish partner picked us due to the excellent taste of our ice cream, but this highly experienced dairy enterprise also carried out a truly thorough quality control and was totally satisfied with the results.”

The cooperation between Balbiino and the Irish dairy enterprise was initiated in April of this year, after which the first shipment of Balbiino ice cream was marketed in Northern Ireland under the trademark of the Irish Dairy Enterprise.

In addition to Estonia, Balbiino sells identical vanilla ice cream containing cocoa biscuits in Latvia, Lithuania and Finland under the Raks trademark.

Before signing the contract, the representatives of the Irish enterprise visited the ice cream production at Balbiino and audited the whole process of the production and storage of ice cream. Attaining the BRC (British Retail Consortium) international food safety and quality management system benchmark at the highest level (A), was an essential factor in the decision-making process.

AS Balbiino is the only Estonian ice cream producer which has been awarded an international BRC food safety and quality management certificate. Conditions for meeting the standard are very strict, especially in the area of food safety. Balbiino has held the BRC certificate since 2006.

AS Balbiino, created in 1995, is one of the largest Estonian ice cream manufacturers to make ice cream from home-produced raw materials. The enterprise is 100% based on Estonian capital, belongs to the NG Investments, and employs 158 people.

In addition to ice cream production, Balbiino deals in frozen and cooled products. Balbiino imports and distributes frozen vegetables, berries, culinary products, fish and meat. In its home market in the Baltic states, AS Balbiino markets the production of well known producers of frozen foods such as Farm Frites, Fritar, Bonduelle, Marjamaa farm, Subland, Dicogel, Vetrija, Korv-Görans kebab, Wilbo etc. Additionally, Balbiino owns the trademarks of Culinare, Härmavilja and Marine.