– The ice cream industry is very weather dependent, and 2009 was the worst summer in living memory, general manager Roar Langli says. He rejects the idea that the increasing competition from exclusive ice cream brands like Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs is the cause of the loss in revenue.
– We notice their presence on the market, but we do not have the impression that it has any effect on our sale. Although the niche is expanding in Norway, Kulinaris do not make the same ice cream as them, Langli says. Along with two friends, Marius Elvebråten and Even Riis, Langli founded the ice cream factory in Kolbotn in 2002. Since then, sales have been very promising, and the company has expanded to seven employees. Turnover was about 11 million kroner in 2009, over 3 million more than in 2005. They still ended up on a loss before tax last year of 90,000 million.