Jan 21st, 2015
6 mins
Taste Trends plans continuing growth backed by Lakeland Dairies
Taste Trends Limited, the specialist in added-value frozen refreshment and the largest manufacturer of frozen yogurt in Europe, plans to further grow its business supported by its new owner, the Lakeland Dairies Co-operative, which has acquired the company for an undisclosed sum.
The combination of both businesses provides a platform for the continued growth of Taste Trends and its brand Coolicious which is the leader in the European foodservice market for frozen yogurt. Taste Trends has 20 years of experience in category leadership and innovation, selling over 17 million portions of frozen yogurt each year.
Taste Trends will continue under its current management team with Dr. Tammy Pepper leading innovation in product development and founder, Richard Drane as Managing Director.
Taste Trends and Lakeland Dairies each have unique capabilities relevant to the foodservice sector worldwide. Taste Trends has specialist expertise in frozen yogurt innovation with delicious recipes, market knowledge and insight. Lakeland Dairies has a heritage of excellence in dairying spanning over 100 years with a multi-million ice cream and food ingredients business and a direct market reach to over 70 countries worldwide. The company is particularly well known in the UK through its Pritchitts dairy foodservice business.
Lakeland Dairies will support Taste Trends as it continues its focus on unique products and applications for foodservice operators in the casual dining, snack and healthy refreshment markets. Both companies specialise in working with clients to bring new foodservice concepts and solutions to market. Taste Trends also promotes the benefits of frozen yogurt to consumers in partnership with its trade customers and sells its products across the UK and increasingly internationally.
Over 20 years of trading, Taste Trends has established itself as the market-leader in frozen yogurt with consistent growth and commitment to its customers. Managing Director of Taste Trends Limited Richard Drane has 25 years of experience in the industry, including the launch of the Frozen Yogurt concept in the UK in 1988.
Richard Drane, Managing Director of Taste Trends said: “The Frozen Yogurt market is coming of age with leading foodservice operators now starting to offer the healthy indulgence of our Coolicious Frozen Yogurt range.
“I’m really pleased that Lakeland Dairies are supporting Taste Trends’ further expansion in the UK and abroad. Through this combination, the marketplace will have a best in class supplier combining innovation and dairy manufacturing excellence.”
Michael Hanley, Chief Executive of Lakeland Dairies said, “Taste Trends is an excellent business with highly experienced management, great customers and strong growth prospects.
“Frozen yogurts are very appealing, natural and wholesome products and they are proving immensely popular with consumers worldwide. As a product category they are also perfectly aligned with global trends of healthy eating, natural dairy products and food customisation.
“We’re very pleased to have this opportunity to work with Richard, Tammy and their management team to further develop their business through our combined expertise, with continuing investment in sales and marketing and an expansion of sales through our international market reach. We look forward to serving the needs of our deeply valued foodservice customers as we work closely with them to support their business development requirements.”
With operations in the UK, Ireland and worldwide, Lakeland Dairies is a leading dairy processing co-operative and a global market leader in the manufacturing of dairy based products. The co-operative markets a wide range of value-added dairy foodservice products and food ingredients which it exports to over 70 countries throughout the world.
Websites
www.coolicious.com
