Häagen-Dazs is an American brand of ice cream, established by Polish immigrants Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York in 1959. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn NY in 1975 and then offered franchises throughout the United States and 54 other countries around the world. Häagen-Dazs produces ice cream, ice cream bars, sorbet, and frozen yogurt.
The ice cream comes in many different flavors and is a "super-premium" brand, meaning it uses high quality ingredients and is quite dense (very little air is mixed in during manufacture) and no emulsifiers or stabilizers are used other than egg yolks, and has a high butterfat content. Häagen-Dazs is also meant to be kept at a temperature that is substantially lower than most ice creams in order to keep its intended firmness. It is sold both in grocery stores and in dedicated retail outlets serving ice cream cones, sundaes, and so on.
A majority of the permanent flavors offered by the company include chocolate in one form or another, though there are vanilla-based blends as well. Three to four times a year a seasonal limited edition flavor is introduced.
In 1974, Häagen-Dazs established a national presence with an agreement with the California dairy Arden Farms to manufacture and distribute the ice cream in the Western states.
In 1975, the first company store was opened in Brooklyn NY by the Mattus' daughter Doris and soon became a national franchise.
In 1978, outgrowing its original Bronx production facility, the company purchased a larger factory in Woodbridge, New Jersey.
Häagen-Dazs was sold to The Pillsbury Company, now owned by General Mills, in 1983. In the US and Canada, the brand is used under license by Nestlé. Following this purchase Häagen-Dazs built an additional facility in Tulare, California.
In the 1980s, Häagen-Dazs faced competition from Frusen Glädjé, another brand of premium American ice cream whose name actually is Scandinavian.
In 2008, the company announced the donation of $250,000 to Pennsylvania State University and University of California, Davis to help research the bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) phenomenon. The company will also sell a limited-edition flavor, Vanilla Honey Bee, with part of the proceeds also going to fund research on CCD
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