Double Rainbow prospers in Hong Kong - Double Rainbow Gourmet Ice Creams Inc

Dairy Foods, March, 1995 by Jeff Reiter

"All of a sudden everyone's international. Everything is world trade. People didn't even think about it five years ago," says Steve Fink, co-founder of Double Rainbow Ice Creams Inc., San Francisco.

Double Rainbow (DR) counts itself among the new globetrotters. In 1993, Fink and Michael Sachar, co-founder and president, formed a new company, U.S. Gourmet Ice Creams (Asia) Ltd. as a way to market DR's superpremium product line in Hong Kong. The venture, backed by a Hong Kong investment group, began as a single dipping store and now includes 21 shops and service to more than 600 Hong Kong convenience stores.

"We've done some very successful but limited ventures overseas in the past in countries like Guam," Sachar says, "but we haven't experienced anything like the rapid growth we've seen in Hong Kong."

In 1994, DR shipped one 40-ft container of product to Hong Kong every month. Now, says Sachar, shipping frequency is every three weeks. Product leaving the Port of Oakland is in transit about 16 days, traveling some 6,500 miles.

DR's Hong Kong offerings include ice cream and frozen yogurt (pints and bulk), ice cream cakes, single-serve cups, and large Dove-like ice cream bars. Lychee Nut is the best-selling ice cream flavor by far.

According to Sachar, the only other American ice cream brands in Hong Kong are Dreyer's Grand and Haagen-Dazs. But the market is crowded with imported products from Japan, New Zealand and other countries, plus some local brands.
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DR still ships product to Guam, and plans expansion to other Far East countries during the next five years.

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