Steets ice cream brand manufacturer, The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), says its $30 million investment in the Minto facility in southwest Sydney brings more automation and advanced manufacturing technology to the business. The Minto factory makes nearly three million ice cream servings a day.
TMICC general manager ANZ, Scott Mingl, said the investment reflects the company’s long-term commitment to local manufacturing and innovation.
“This is a major step forward for our business. We’re proud to be backed by a local factory, a passionate R&D team and an agile end-to-end supply chain. This investment positions us to disrupt the ice cream market and deliver new innovations at speed.
“Our focus is to grow the business to become the best ice cream company in Australia and New Zealand and a key manufacturer of ice creams loved across the country,” Mingl said.
More than 400 people are employed at the Minto site with more than half the raw materials used sourced locally.
Some of it brands are Blue Ribbon, Golden Gaytime, Magnum, Paddle Pop and Weis.
TMICC head of manufacturing ANZ, Waqas Zaheer, said it was a proud moment for everyone at Minto.
“We’ve worked hard to streamline this site which is now recognised as a top performer in our category for supply chain and customer service. The upgrades were already improving overall production output, safety and operational efficiency.
“In the past two and a half years we have doubled the factory’s efficiency while also maintaining zero waste to landfill and reducing overall waste by around 72 per cent since 2022,” Zaheer said.
The factory’s support office has also been completely refurbished, with state-of-the-art amenities and a design inspired by classic Streets ice cream parlours.
The Minto facility has been operating for more than 20 years. Today, it makes nearly three million ice cream servings every day and is responsible for around 63 per cent of all ice creams sold by TMICC in ANZ each year.
TMICC is the renamed ice cream division of Unilever, which began operating separately on 1 July. Unilever CEO, Fernando Fernandez, said the company was on track to demerge and separately list TMICC by mid-November 2025.
The separation was announced in March 2024 by former CEO, Hein Schumacher, as part of a 10-point plan to turn around the company’s underperformance.
In July, Fernandez announced Peter ter Kulve as TMICC CEO, and Abhijit Bhattacharya as CFO. Chair designate, Jean-François van Boxmeer, is in the process of appointing non-executive directors.
Unilever will retain less than a 20 per cent stake in the company for a period of up to five years.
