Ice cream maker Bon Appetit Australia, which recently rescued the Dairy Bell ice cream business, has entered voluntary administration.
Bon Appetit, which makes the Bottega del Gelato and Brown Cow Ice Cream brands, and packaged fruit and jam brand called Berry King, bought the licence for fellow Melbourne ice cream company Dairy Bell brand in 2015, saving it from collapse.
Dairy Bell closed two factories at the time, blaming the “supermarket ice cream wars” which it said had cost the retailer profit and the manufacturer loss of margin, with Bon Appetit taking over the manufacturing of the range.
Bon Appetit, which reportedly owes creditors over $1 million, had been loss-making for some time, according to media reports, and its manufacturing equipment and stock are being sold, although Dairy Bell's three Melbourne retail will continue to trade.