Weis is an Australian brand owned 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 ...

that produces frozen ice

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

and frozen fruit

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

s. They are most well known for their bar shaped fruit ice creams known as Weis Bars. They are sold at most Australian milk bars and supermarkets and in boxes of eight mini bars or four regular-sized bars at most supermarkets. The Weis manufacturing plant was formerly located in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, but has been closed and sold off. Production now takes place in

Minto, New South Wales Minto is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Minto is located 50 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Campbelltown ( ...

History

The original Weis Fruito Bar was developed by Les Weis in 1957 and was sold from his own corner store in Toowoomba. The Weis Fruito Bar contains pineapple, banana and passion fruit. The most popular bar is the Mango and Cream which launched in 1959. Weis was announced as one of the 150 cultural icons announced in Queensland's Q150 celebrations. In January 2016, Weis planned a successful push into the Chinese market. The Toowoomba company has exported Weis bars to Japan for more than 20 years and close to 30 per cent of its business is now outside Australia. Until August 2017, Weis was a privately owned Australian company. The company was owned and operated by a second generation of the Weis family until they sold it to the Anglo-Dutch firm,

. In late 2019, Unilever announced plans to close the original Weis plant in Toowoomba, making redundant all 93 workers, and move all manufacturing to its Minto Plant in western Sydney. This change was despite the foreign conglomerate telling the original owners that manufacturing would stay in Toowoomba.

Awards

In 2009 as part of the

Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia ...

celebrations, the Weis Bar was announced as one of the

Q150 Icons The Queensland's Q150 Icons list of cultural icons was compiled as part of Q150 celebrations in 2009 by the Government of Queensland, Australia. It represented the people, places and events that were significant to Queensland Queensland ...

of Queensland for its role as an iconic "innovation and invention".

References

External links

Official Weis Website
{{Authority control Ice cream brands Dairy products companies of Australia Food and drink companies established in 1957 Australian brands 1957 establishments in Australia Toowoomba 2017 mergers and acquisitions Unilever brands