Viennetta is a British brand of

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

dessert made by

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

and sold under the various

Heartbrand This is a list of brands owned by the British multinational consumer goods company Unilever. Food and drink Condiments and extracts * Amino – food products (Poland) * Amora – French mayonnaise and dressings (France, Belgium and Mo ...

brands around the world. The original Viennetta consists of several rippled layers of ice cream separated by thin layers of sprayed-on

compound chocolate Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to pure chocolate ''(())'' as it uses less-expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or palm kernel ...

. It is available in many flavours, including vanilla and mint.

History

Viennetta was launched by British ice cream company Wall's in 1982. The layered product and patented technique for its production were devised by Kevin Hillman, development manager at Wall's Gloucester factory; Ian Butcher; and Gordon Stewart Carrick. The layers of ice cream were extruded, one after another, onto trays sitting on a moving belt. The rate of extrusion was greater than the speed of the belt which causes festooning or bunching of the ice cream; each layer was extruded at a different speed from the previous layer. The final effect was akin to a series of waves rippling through the product, giving a concertina effect to the resultant confection. A long running UK advertising campaign for the product used the slogan "one slice is never enough", which is still occasionally used in promotion efforts. In 2007, to celebrate the brand's 25th birthday, a long Viennetta was made, setting the world record for longest ice cream.

Worldwide distribution

Launched originally as a multi-portion dessert product, its success after being launched throughout

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and

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restaurants led to Unilever, owners of Wall's, producing many flavour and size variants. Viennetta was introduced in the United States and Canada in the late 1980s under the Breyer's brand, and was discontinued in the mid-1990s, but was re-introduced in the US in 2021 under the Good Humor brand. Unilever no longer produces the brand in Canada. It is sold in Australia and New Zealand under the Streets brand. It is sold in Italy in all supermarkets by

Algida This is a list of brands owned by the British multinational consumer goods company Unilever. Food and drink Condiments and extracts * Amino – food products (Poland) * Amora – French mayonnaise and dressings (France, Belgium and Mo ...

, and in Israel by Strauss, under the name Fantasia () as well as Germany, Greece and Austria. It is sold in Japan by

Morinaga Milk Industry is a milk products and sweets company based in Tokyo, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and e ...

. In Finland, Viennetta is sold under the Ingman brand. Viennetta is also sold in China with the name “千层雪”. Viennetta was also sold in Indonesia from mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, and re-introduced in April 2020, after a petition signed by almost 75,000 people demanded its comeback to the Indonesian market. In Thailand, it was originally available in the 1990s, and reintroduced again in November 2020. Viennetta was previously known as ''Comtessa'' in Spain but, due to a legal problem, became Viennetta in the 1990s. Viennetta was sold in Mexico until the early 2000s, and was reintroduced by Holanda in 2018 following a petition on change.org several years prior. Viennetta has been sold in Japan since September 1983 under the Morinaga brand. In 2025, Morinaga announced that it will stop selling Vienetta on 31 March 2025 due to the termination of license.

References

{{Heartbrand Ice cream brands Unilever brands Products introduced in 1982