I & I - 2011, Page 27

27I&I
have moved from Hveragerdi. She has always wanted the town to benefit
from the jobs. We all agreed with her,” said Valdimar.
In the beginning only seven people worked for the company, but now
the company employs 50 people. In the summertime 70 to 75 people
work for Kjörís. The warmest season is the best time for an ice cream
factory. “We are among the few that don’t oppose global warming,”
Valdimar jokes.
a queSTIOn OF lIFe and deaTH
He continues: “In the beginning the farmer’s coop tried to stop the ice
cream factory, just like it had stopped the cheese factory. These people
did not like competition.” This forced the company into non-dairy ice
cream, and many innovations, such as popsicles, at that time unknown
in Iceland.
One might think that ice cream is ice cream. But it is not that simple.
Kjörís produces about 160 different products. In 1995 Iceland was no lon-
ger closed to international brands and Kjörís started importing ice cream
from Unilever. This strengthened the company despite many who said
they could not survive foreign competition. “Icelanders like the local ice
cream, much of our imports goes to foreign tourists,” says Valdimar.
In the year 2006 the other Icelandic ice cream producer was sold from
the farmer’s coop to a private company. Hence, the competition is at last
on an equal footing.
Kjörís is a company that has kept Icelanders cold for more than 40
years and hopefully will continue to do so in the future.
we screAm For icecreAm
Icelandic start-up company MindGames creates innovative
computer games that are controlled by the user’s brainwaves.
Photo by Geir Ólafsson.