Breyers

Breyers is an ice cream and frozen dessert brand with headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Since 1993, Breyers was owned and managed by the British conglomerate, Unilever, which incorporated Breyers with other Unilever ice cream brands into the Magnum Ice Cream Company in 2025.

Breyers makes ice cream and frozen dairy desserts.[3] Its products range from traditional dairy desserts to those for specialty diet concerns, such as sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan.[3]

Breyers is one of the ten best-selling ice cream brands globally,[4] and was fourth among American brands in 2022 with sales of $498 million.[5] Founded in 1866, Breyers is the oldest manufacturer of ice cream in the United States.[6]

History

In 1866, William A. Breyer began to produce and sell ice cream in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[6][7] Breyers is the oldest manufacturer of ice cream in the United States.[6][8] The ice cream was originally hand-cranked and made from cream, sugar, fruit, and nuts.[6][3] He first sold it to his neighbors from his home, and later via horse and wagon on the streets of Philadelphia as demand for the product grew.[6][3] By 1882, Breyer had five ice cream shops and a delivery service for the product.[6][3] He opened a wholesale manufacturing plant in 1896.[3]

Breyer's Ice Cream Company was incorporated in 1908.[6][9] By 1918, the company produced one million gallons of ice cream annually.[2][6]

Breyer's Ice Cream Company was sold to the National Dairy Products Corporation/Sealtest in 1926.[9][10] In 1930, National Dairy Products purchased the company that later become known as Kraft in 1976.[6][3] Kraft sold its ice cream brands to Unilever in 1993.[6][11][12]

In 1993, Unilever merged the Breyers ice cream brand with Gold Bond and Good Humor ice cream to create the Good Humor-Breyers division.[2][6] Unilever closed its last Breyers plant in Philadelphia in 1995.[10] The Good Humor-Breyers headquarters were moved from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Oakville, Ontario, to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and Toronto in 2007.[13]

In 2013, Unilever introduced frozen dairy desserts, made with additional ingredients and less butterfat, having created this category to provide low-calorie products.[3] The main difference in the new products was lower fat content. US federal regulations require ice cream products with less than 10% butterfat and milk solids to be labeled as frozen dairy dessert instead of ice cream.[14] The new desserts provoked complaints from customers who preferred the brand's all-natural ice cream products.[3][15]

Market size

With $498 million in sales in 2022, Breyers was fourth among American brands.[5] As a single company, Breyers was among the world's top-10 most valued ice cream brands,[4][16] becoming part of the $9 billion Magnum Ice Cream Company in 2025.[17]

The Magnum Ice Cream Company

In July 2025, Breyers and other major ice cream brands owned by Unilever, such as Magnum, Ben & Jerry's, and Wall's, were demerged

producttype	Ice cream and frozen dairy desserts
currentowner	The Magnum Ice Cream Company
country	United States
introduced	1866
previousowners	Unilever
website	breyers.com
footnotes	‡R1R‡‡R2R‡

History

Market size

The Magnum Ice Cream Company

Products

Ice cream

Frozen dairy dessert

Confusion with Dreyer's

See also

External links

References