KEY POINTS:
Businesswoman Diane Foreman is hoping the expansion of the New Zealand Natural Ice Cream franchise into the United States is just the tip of an iceberg.
Two years after Foreman's Emerald Foods picked up the distribution arm and control of the brand it has grown from 230 outlets to 412.
Sole owner Foreman - who is vice-chairwoman of the Business Round Table lobby group - says that with the brand in 17 countries her main focus is in the US and Asia.
The first US outlet is opening in Los Angeles next month and the master franchiser there plans a further 12.
"There are a lot of competitors in the US and a lot of opportunities," she says. "Americans are the biggest ice-cream consumers in the world."
Foreman said the demand for dairy foods was still developing in Asia because consumption was low.
But there were good prospects there as well: the first Indian store opened in New Delhi last week and was beating targets.
The main issue when expanding into hot tropical markets was ensuring that refrigeration and infrastructure were up to scratch both for stores and for transport delivering them.
"Two degrees too warm and you could be in trouble. And if outlets do not get that right it can damage the brand."
In the past two years Foreman has taken the brand beyond its Antipodean and Southeast Asian base into the United Arab Emirates, China, Britain and Ireland.
She said New Zealand Natural Ice Cream had been trading for 20 years and the local factory had been supplying product since 1993.
Emerald Foods had been a supplier to the Australian-owned company for about 20 years.
It had supplied about 20 per cent of the icecream for outlets. The rest came from Tip Top.
But in taking over the New Zealand Natural brand in 2004 Emerald took over supplying all the icecream and picks up franchise fees along the way.
Foreman herself owns the 12 New Zealand outlets and the stores in Queensland and New South Wales.
The brand is strongest in Australia where there are 103 outlets.
Foreman said the expansion had been simple because by selling master franchises in different territories its capital outlay had not been too high.
The main capital costs had been in expanding the local icecream factory, which had gone from 60 staff to 150.
Foreman said the only territory that had struggled so far had been Hong Kong.
