Unilever has announced it will transfer the manufacturing of its Weis ice cream line from Toowoomba, Queensland, to its Minto plant in New South Wales.
The company said the decision had not been taken lightly and it was regrettable the Toowoomba facility would close in December 2020.
The first Weis bar was made by the Weis family in Toowoomba in 1957. Its most popular variety, the Mango and Cream bar, began two years later.
The Weis family sold the business to Unilever for an undisclosed sum two years ago. At the time, founder Les Weis told ABC Radio he only agreed to the sale if the ice creams would continue to be made locally. He was confident Unilever could take the product to new markets. “I think Unilever will give Weis just the push it needs,” he said.
MD Julie Weis said: “Unilever demonstrated their understanding of our brand, our products and how important our people and the Toowoomba manufacturing site are in ensuring Weis’ success into the future.”
Unilever Australia & New Zealand CEO Clive Stiff said: “We did not anticipate this decision when we acquired Weis from the Weis family in 2017. It was our firm intention to keep manufacturing at Toowoomba, which is why we have made major investments in the site over the past two and a half years.”
Since Unilever bought the brand, costs, competition and distribution channels had changed quickly and pressure on the business had “significantly increased”.
“We have spoken to the Weis family and we appreciate their deep disappointment, and we understand this is not something they would have foreseen when they sold the business to Unilever,” Stiff said.
Julie Weis told the Courier Mail the family was “deeply disappointed” with the decision. “Keeping the manufacturing local and the jobs was our number one priority in the sale...That didn't mean it could never happen, but it is only two years [after the sale]. This is a sad day for us.”
On Friday (14 November), Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio told ABC Radio he had “quite a robust conversation” with Unilever. “They've made a rather tough business decision … but it’s devastating we're losing the manufacture of one of our absolute icons,” he said.
Stiff said all 93 staff at Toowoomba would go. They would be given opportunities to transfer to other parts of Unilever and redundancies would be “significantly more favourable” than the provisions in the existing enterprise agreement.
