Bulla Dairy Foods: История австралийской семейной молочной компании

Australian dairy company

Bulla Dairy Foods is an Australian dairy company that manufactures a national and export range of ice cream, table cream, yoghurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, and imitation cream under various brands. The business was established in 1910 and subsequently became a partnership among three inter related families, who still continue to own and operate the business. The company's name was established from the origin of place in Victoria, Australia and the business has continued for more than 100 years. Bulla Dairy Foods has expanded internationally, exporting its products to 17 countries, as well as supplying their products nationally within Australia to supermarket retailers. The company employs more than 600 people across three manufacturing sites across Victoria in Colac, Dandenong, and Mulgrave and a head office and distribution centre in Derrimut, Melbourne.

Bulla dairy Foods was founded in 1910 by Thomas Sloan, in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne, as the Bulla Cream Company. William Sloan, the brother of Thomas, owned a farm in Bulla and provided the milk used to make the cream. Thomas had developed a new method of thickening cream by burning wood, creating heat to pasteurise the cream in copper cans. In 1914, Thomas Sloan's brother in law, Hugh Anderson, became a partner in the business. In 1918, Hugh Anderson's brother Jack also joined Bulla Cream company. Bulla had initially started the business in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne and in 1928, Bulla purchased a premise in Arden St, North Melbourne to become their new headquarters, this site would hold the manufacturing of the cream bottling plant and distribution and head office. The business has primarily focused on portraying the image of Bulla as a family business and in the late 1990s the company began to hire senior members of the business who were not descendants of the three founding families.

In 2009, Bulla purchased the remainder of the ice cream business that Fonterra sold to Nestle and they also purchased the Brownes tub ice cream range in Western Australia. The licensing rights included production, distribution and marketing of the ice cream in Australia. In 2015, the company announced the launch of a new advertising campaign that would signify Bulla's Australian origins and heritage. The tagline included the phrase "Unfakeable”, to highlight Bulla's 105 years of production. In January 2020, Bulla released a range of ice cream entitled ‘Murray Street’. This range was to commemorate making ice cream on Murray Street in Colac, Victoria for more than 90 years.

Bulla Dairy Foods employs more than 600 people within Victoria, Australia and has grown to an international level, exporting their products to 17 countries. The company's head office is located in Derrimut, Melbourne and the manufacturing sites are in Colac, Dandenong and Mulgrave, Victoria.

Bulla Dairy Foods carries 160 units of stock keeping and this stock is produced and manufactured in a seven day cycle. Bulla's supply of milk is directly sourced from Australia and the company uses specific methods of pasteurising milk using ultra heat treatment. This instalment provides 80 per cent of the power requirement for its frozen dairy manufacturing plant in Colac. The instalment of the cogeneration modules was aimed to improve the company's ecological footprint and reduce energy costs. Prior to the instalment of this module, the manufacturing site at Colac used 86 percent of electricity and 11 percent of natural gas. In May 2019, Bulla Dairy foods had a set price of milk solids at 7 dollars per kilogram and in the following month the company moved to a price of $7.20 per kilogram. The increase was a result of a greater competition for milk in the current market. Bulla Dairy Foods has more than 100 suppliers within Victoria and this provides more than 1 million litres of milk.

Bulla Dairy Foods has annual gross sales of approximately $400 million and is the largest selling branded cream in Australia. Bulla has an international presence in many southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, and China. These overseas exports contribute to approximately five per cent of Bulla's yearly profit and international export revenues are about five to ten million dollars. The company has introduced their dairy range into the Chinese market, with Bulla's frozen products being sold in stores in China and also on two online food retail platforms. In the Chinese market, Bulla has sold their products in both convenience stores and grocery supermarkets with approximately 800 million people having access to the online platforms. pure, thick and light cream in tubs, flavoured and natural Yogurt tubs and low fat cottage cheese.

Bulla's ‘Creamy Classics’ tub ice cream increased their percentage of customers who bought ice cream, in 2015 it was 12.5% and increased to 16.6% four years later. The overall purchasing of Bulla's ice cream has decreased, in 2015, 32.2% of ice cream buyers purchased Bulla. In 2019, this has decreased 30.9%. As of 2019, Bulla is the leading brand of ice cream bought by Australian ice cream buyers. In 2018, Bulla dairy foods introduced Cinnamon Donut flavoured ice cream sticks, as well as a limited edition Bulla crunch variety with the addition of 2 new milkshake flavours; blue heaven and tangy pineapple.

In July 2019, the New South Wales Food Authority recalled Bulla's ‘Ready to Decorate Ice Cream Cake Base’ for the presence of soy, an undeclared allergen. The cake was sold in Australian grocery retailers and there was concern for consumer allergies and was deemed a food safety hazard.

Bulla exports their products to locations around the world Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong.

In 2012, Bulla's Dollop Cream Portions was awarded the ‘best new foodservice product’, for relevance and innovation at the Fine Food Australia Show. In 2013, Bulla won the grand champion dairy product from Dairy Australia for their premium sour cream. In 2016, Bulla Dairy Foods received the DTS Food Laboratories Award from The Dairy Industry Association of Australia for their sour cream 200mL for its use of dip, cream and dessert. The sour cream was given 19.33 points out of 20. In the same year, the association gave an award for Judges Choice for Bulla's Fairy Bread ice cream due to its creativity. In the same year, Bulla's Creme Fraiche won the grand champion dairy product from Dairy Australia. In 2019 and 2020 Bulla was a finalist recipient for a people's choice award from The Australian Grand Dairy Awards, they were placed in their top three category for best cream for their ‘double cream’ product.