Häagen-Dazs (US: , UK: ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York, in 1960. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, New York, on November 15, 1976. The business now has franchises throughout the United States and many other countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, India, South Africa, China, Lebanon, New Zealand, Peru, Mexico and Brazil.
Häagen-Dazs ice cream comes in several traditional flavors as well as several esoteric flavors that are specific to the brand, such as Vanilla Swiss Almond and Bananas Foster. It is marketed as a “super-premium” brand: it is quite dense (very little air is mixed in during manufacture), uses no emulsifiers or stabilizers other than egg yolks, and has a high butterfat content. It is sold both in grocery stores and in dedicated retail outlets serving ice cream cones, sundaes, and so on.
Since 1992, most of the world’s Häagen-Dazs products have been manufactured at a plant in Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines, France that is now controlled by General Mills. In the United States and Canada, Häagen-Dazs is licensed to and produced by Nestlé subsidiary Dreyer’s. Häagen-Dazs entered the Japanese market in 1984 by forming a joint venture with Suntory and Takanashi Milk, which has produced their products there ever since.
To offset increasing costs of their ingredients and the delivery of the product, Häagen-Dazs announced that, in January 2009, it would be reducing the size of their ice cream cartons in the US from 16 US fl oz (470 ml) to 14 US fl oz (410 ml). In March 2009, they announced that they would be shrinking the 32 US fl oz (950 ml) container to 28 US fl oz (830 ml).
