PRESS INFO 50 years of soft ice cream - LunaMil

PRESS INFO50 years of soft ice creamOne of Germany’s leading soft ice cream manufacturers is celebrating its 50 thanniversaryLumen’s success story started only 50 years ago – and with no more than a couple ofsoft ice cream machines. Today, LUMEN GmbH – which was founded in 1962 – is oneof Germany’s leading suppliers of branded quality soft ice cream to the cateringindustry. Amongst other things, the IREKS subsidiary, whose success is primarily dueto its self-developed and patented LUNA ice cream machines, will be celebrating itsanniversary with a special limited edition anniversary ice cream.“We are extremely proud about the fact that we have not only been a pioneering force on theGerman soft ice cream market, but also that we are still one of the three leading soft icecream manufacturers in Germany even half a century later”, explained Günter Sommerer,Managing Director of LUMEN GmbH. In celebration of this anniversary and so as to sharethis moment with all of its partners and long-standing soft ice cream lovers, the wellestablishedcompany, which employs nearly 100 staff and is based in the Upper Franconiantown of Kulmbach, has created a special celebratory soft ice cream – the anniversary special“Amarena Cup“. This soft ice cream concoction is made from the delicious and creamyLunaMil vanilla ice cream, drizzled with a luscious Amarena cherry topping and showeredwith dark chocolate sprinkles. It will be available from April onwards at selected LunaMil andRomeo & Giulia stands and, to top it all, also comes with a decorative chocolate tag, icedwith: “LUMEN celebrates its 50 th anniversary!” - to mark the happy occasion.The secret of our success: Award-wining qualityOne of the secrets of LUMEN GmbH’s success over the past 50 years has been the awardwining(DLG) quality of our soft ice cream. To ensure this quality, LUMEN has always beenmeticulous about the quality of its ingredients and of its self-developed soft ice creammachines. In 1958, the family Ruckdeschel, the owners of IREKS GmbH and founders of theIREKS’ subsidiary LUMEN, imported the first soft ice cream machines from America andmodified them to meet the needs of the German market. LUMEN GmbH subsequentlypatented the special soft ice cream production method developed for the LUNA soft icecream machines in the 60ties. The technological novelty of this machine is that it can not

only chill the liquid ice cream mixture, but also heat it to around 75 degrees and hencepasteurise it. LUMEN’s soft ice cream’s quality is furthermore assured by regularly takingsamples and having them analysed by independent laboratories. Eliminating all of the risksassociated with the potential development of germs!This is just one of the reasons why LUMEN’S LunaMil, Romeo & Giulia, Frozen Yoghurt andVanilla Shake have this year been awarded the Golden Seal by the German AgriculturalSociety (DLG) – one of Germany’s top watchdogs when it comes to food production. TheDLG furthermore only awards the “DLG Award” to foods that meet the highest standardsregarding all of their sensory properties and meet the DLG’s own stringent quality criteria.This means that only foods that are of an exceptionally high quality are considered for DLG’sbronze, silver or golden award.Thanks to this sophisticated technology, LUMEN’s innovative soft ice cream machines wenton to quickly establish themselves on the international market and, in the 70ties, laid thefoundation for LUMEN GmbH’s expansion, which continues to this day. Today, LUMEN’sinnovative LUNA soft ice cream machines are in high demand all over the world and thecompany has long since successfully established a global sales network. As well as its threesubsidiaries in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the UK, LUMEN’s sales networknow also extends to Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Rumania, Sweden,Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary. More recently, LUMEN’s sales network has alsoexpanded to Malaysia and Singapore.A clever franchise systemLUMEN’s clever franchise system consists of an all-in-one package that consists not only ofthe patented soft ice cream machines, but also the ice cream mixture, all of the ingredientsand a sophisticated marketing concept. This marketing concept includes an extensive siteanalysis, the provision of training to staff and maintaining, cleaning and servicing the soft icecream machines. An all-round service package that has been thoroughly thought through, isexperiencing great demand and is a mark of the high quality services provided by the UpperFranconian company.However, LUMEN also produces an impressive range of soft ice creams. In 1977, LUMENintroduced its LunaMil brand of soft ice creams, which now forms the foundation of its currentrange of soft ice creams. LunaMil has since firmly established itself as a delicious soft icecream brand that is served with a diverse variety of classical toppings such as chocolate

icing, strawberry topping & more. LUMEN’s Romeo & Giulia is a soft ice cream brand thatwas created in 2004 and is a luxury soft ice cream which, amongst others, was launched atthe famous delicatessen Feinkost Käfer in Munich. The intensely sophisticated vanilla andchocolate flavour of this gourmet product and its delectable range of toppings has beentaking soft ice cream lovers by storm.A delicious soft ice cream with a promising futureLUMEN GmbH is well positioned in the market for the future. “Our classics like ourStrawberry Flip or Chocolate Cones in particular are currently experiencing a revival and arebecoming more and more popular”, explained Managing Director Günter Sommerer. At thesame time, consumers are becoming more and more quality conscious and, according toSommerer, “There is simply nothing better than a freshly drawn soft ice cream. And that isn’tjust our credo, but also what is making our customers return time and again and increasinglyso!”