Founding

Bulla dairy Foods was founded in 1910 by Thomas Sloan, in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne, as the Bulla Cream Company. William Sloan, the brother of Thomas, owned a farm in Bulla and provided the milk used to make the cream.^[3] Thomas had developed a new method of thickening cream by burning wood, creating heat to pasteurise the cream in copper cans.^[3] The product was distributed by horse and cart, and the copper cans were draped with wet bags to keep them cool during transportation.^[4] In 1914, Thomas Sloan's brother in law, Hugh Anderson, became a partner in the business. In 1918, Hugh Anderson's brother Jack also joined Bulla Cream company.^[4] Thus the company was operated by three interrelated families. The responsibilities of the business operations were split among the three men, marketing and product distribution were the responsibility of Jack Anderson and Thomas Sloan, while Hugh Anderson was responsible for production.^[4] The name Bulla came from the origin of the place, where the milk was initially supplied by Sloan's brother. His farm was in Bulla, a town North West of Melbourne. The copper cans filled with cream were transported to Moonee Pond and had the label ‘Bulla’, so the company's name was unintentionally created.^[3]

Murray Street, Colac, Victoria, where Bulla has sold and produced ice cream

In 1914, the first expansion of the company included the purchase of a butter factory in Drysdale, south west of Melbourne. In 1921, the business bought land to build their first factory in the Western district town of Colac and by 1922, the butter factory in Drysdale was sold and the operations and manufacturing were moved to Colac.^[3][5] Bulla had initially started the business in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne and in 1928, Bulla purchased a premise in Arden St, North Melbourne to become their new headquarters, this site would hold the manufacturing of the cream bottling plant and distribution and head office.^[5] By 1929, Bulla had begun to produce ice cream from their factory on Murray Street in Colac, Victoria. In the following year, an ice factory was purchased by Bulla in Colac that produced Regal Ice Cream. Regal Ice cream was produced by Bulla and in 2004, Regal ice cream was discontinued and rebadged as Bulla.^[6] The business has primarily focused on portraying the image of Bulla as a family business and in the late 1990s the company began to hire senior members of the business who were not descendants of the three founding families.^[4] In 2000, a 6,400 square metre site on Forest St was planned for construction in Colac for manufacturing their dairy products and the plant was operational by 2003.^[7]

Recent developments

In 2009, Bulla purchased the remainder of the ice cream business that Fonterra sold to Nestle and they also purchased the Brownes tub ice cream range in Western Australia.^[3] By 2014, Bulla had received an Australian Cadbury ice cream licence, that allowed the company to produce Cadbury Marvelous Creations ice cream.^[8] The licensing rights included production, distribution and marketing of the ice cream in Australia.^[8] In May 2014, Bulla Dairy Foods entered into a partnership with the Australian Dairy Farmers Cooperation (ADFC). They supply fresh milk to Bulla daily and other locations in Victoria.^[9]  In 2015, the company announced the launch of a new advertising campaign that would signify Bulla's Australian origins and heritage.^[10]  The tagline included the phrase "Unfakeable”, to highlight Bulla's 105 years of production.^[10] The advertising campaign included two television commercials that advertised their cream and ice cream products.^[10] In 2017, Bulla Dairy foods moved to a direct farm supply of milk, instead of receiving it externally from a third party.^[10] In June of the same year, Bulla announced that it would be adopting a new Country of Origin labelling, to show support for Australian farmers and to highlight the company's Australian heritage.^[11] In January 2020, Bulla released a range of ice cream entitled ‘Murray Street’. This range was to commemorate making ice cream on Murray Street in Colac, Victoria for more than 90 years.^[12]

Production

Bulla Dairy Foods carries 160 units of stock keeping and this stock is produced and manufactured in a seven-day cycle. Bulla's supply of milk is directly sourced from Australia and the company uses specific methods of pasteurising milk using ultra heat treatment.^[1] Bulla's main manufacturing sites are in Colac, Victoria, Mulgrave, Victoria and Dandenong, Victoria where the company has employed more than 450 people in those two sites. In their production site, Bulla has introduced two MTU onsite energy cogeneration modules, due to a grant from the Australian Governments Clean technology food and Foundries investment program.^[13] This instalment provides 80 per cent of the power requirement for its frozen dairy manufacturing plant in Colac. The instalment of the cogeneration modules was aimed to improve the company's ecological footprint and reduce energy costs. Prior to the instalment of this module, the manufacturing site at Colac used 86 percent of electricity and 11 percent of natural gas.^[13] Bulla is a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant, which is an organisation to limit environmental impacts of product packaging, this includes recyclable packaging.^[14] In May 2019, Bulla Dairy foods had a set price of milk solids at 7 dollars per kilogram and in the following month the company moved to a price of $7.20 per kilogram. The increase was a result of a greater competition for milk in the current market. Bulla Dairy Foods has more than 100 suppliers within Victoria and this provides more than 1 million litres of milk.^[15]

International Exports

Bulla Dairy Foods has annual gross sales of approximately $400 million and is the largest selling branded cream in Australia.^[16] Bulla has an international presence in many southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, and China. These overseas exports contribute to approximately five per cent of Bulla's yearly profit and international export revenues are about five to ten million dollars.^[16][17] The company has introduced their dairy range into the Chinese market, with Bulla's frozen products being sold in stores in China and also on two online food retail platforms. In the Chinese market, Bulla has sold their products in both convenience stores and grocery supermarkets with approximately 800 million people having access to the online platforms.^[17]

Ice cream

Bulla's ‘Creamy Classics’ tub ice cream increased their percentage of customers who bought ice cream, in 2015 it was 12.5% and increased to 16.6% four years later. The overall purchasing of Bulla's ice cream has decreased, in 2015, 32.2% of ice cream buyers purchased Bulla. In 2019, this has decreased 30.9%. As of 2019, Bulla is the leading brand of ice cream bought by Australian ice cream buyers.^[21]

In 2018, Bulla dairy foods introduced Cinnamon Donut flavoured ice cream sticks, as well as a limited edition Bulla crunch variety with the addition of 2 new milkshake flavours; blue heaven and tangy pineapple.^[22]

Food safety

In July 2019, the New South Wales Food Authority recalled Bulla's ‘Ready to Decorate Ice Cream Cake Base’ for the presence of soy, an undeclared allergen. The cake was sold in Australian grocery retailers and there was concern for consumer allergies and was deemed a food safety hazard.^[23]