The first time Greek Australian Dimitrios Kyriazis and his family made national headlines in Australia was four decades ago when his mother Mary Pantelias was featured as the first Greek migrant woman to deliver quads in Australia. Little did Dimitrios know that 43 years later the business he now partly owns, Golden North Ice Cream, would make headlines being voted Australia’s number one ice-cream for 2018.
According to an independent nationwide customer survey conducted by Canstar Blue (2018), more than 1,600 consumers were each asked to rate ice-cream brands based on taste, consistency, value for money, variety, packaging and overall satisfaction resulting in South Australia’s local brand Golden North being voted as the best tasting ice-cream in the nation.
“We have certainly worked very hard competing against the most popular ice cream brands in Australia and therefore it is an incredible honour and a huge achievement for us to win this award,” Dimitrios told Neos Kosmos.
Golden North Ice Cream is a South Australian company making premium ice-cream from the highest quality locally sourced ingredients and was the only brand to receive a five-star rating for taste, consistency and overall satisfaction, securing the title of Australia’s favourite ice-cream tub ahead of a plethora of major national brands, which included Bulla, Cadbury, Peters and Streets.
In order, the top ranking ice-creams in Canstar Blue’s 2018 customer satisfaction survey were Golden North, Aldi, Bulla, Cadbury, Connoisseur, Peters, Sara Lee, Streets, Ben & Jerry’s, Coles and Woolworths home brands.
“This is the first time that our ice-cream has won a national award placing our South Australian brand ahead of the likes of Peters, Streets Connoisseur, Bulla and Ben & Jerry’s.
“Considering we are a local South Australian producer and that within a year of becoming a national brand we have managed to be recognised as the best ice-cream in Australia, winning first time around, is quite an achievement,” said the businessman whose family originates from Epirus as well as the island of Rhodes and coastal town Karystos (Evia island).
Dimitrios acquired Golden North’s operations with another four partners approximately nine years ago.
“When we took over the business, we made the conscious decision to maintain the high quality of our products and concentrate on building the business brand,” says Kyriazis who has a degree in accounting and marketing.
“Within a short time, we gradually went from employing 45 people and only supplying products to supermarket retailers in South Australia to the current 80 employees working for us. In the last year, we have been able to go national and are now available in more than 2,000 supermarkets and retail shops outside South Australia.”
In addition to all South Australian and NT supermarkets, selected Golden North products are now available in supermarket stores in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, as well as Queensland.
This is Golden North’s second major accolade in a matter of weeks. The company was recently also named Metcash’s Perishable Supplier of the Year (under $50 million).
Established in 1923, the privately owned and operated ice-cream manufacturer is still based at Laura in the state’s upper mid north where it produces a range of flavours, including its signature Golden North Honey Ice Cream tubs and Giant Twins ice-creams as well as nine popular flavours in its 2 litre range.
“We are proudly SA made and owned and unlike other brands, our products are still made the traditional way using the freshest milk and cream sourced directly from Aussie farmers to create rich, creamy texture premium ice-cream and that’s what makes it so delicious. All our products are also gluten-free and palm oil free, and by the looks of it, Australian consumers have understood our vision and given our brand their vote of confidence,” says the 43-year-old.
“We love Golden North ice cream the best because it’s so soft and creamy,” says 10-year-old Stratis who together with his nine-year-old sister Katie from South Australia vote vanilla, rainbow and boysenberry flavours as Golden North’s best.
“Everyone should try it. Not only because it’s made here in SA but also because it’s just so delicious!”
