FIC: 20 years keeping it cool

MANILA, Philippines - This year, The Food People celebrate the 20th anniversary of the highly popular Fruits in Ice Cream (FIC) brand by expanding their line with a new product: frozen custard.

In 1997, Jose Celdran, Rosalinda Custodio, Vivien Ongkiko and Edgardo Garcia – all self-confessed ice cream-aholics – founded The Food People, Inc. (TFPI) with the dream to create premium ice cream, initially only for export.

FIC was one of the first premium ice cream brands in the country created by a wholly Filipino-owned group and The Food People were adamant about using the freshest ingredients, delivering uncompromising quality and creating memorable flavors. One of the key ingredients of FIC is its milk which they source from New Zealand and Australia.

The first market for FIC was Japan, where they supplemented the local ice cream choices with tropical flavors. The company learned a lot from their first venture into the international market because of Japan’s extremely stringent food standard requirements, particularly for imported dairy products. The company soon found customers in other countries as well, including the US, Macau, Singapore, Canada, Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Brunei.

Eventually, FIC made its local debut. Realizing the difficulty of getting a new brand sold through the big wholesale distributors, TFPI decided to go directly to the consumers. They distributed their product via home distributors in upscale residential communities, scooping kiosks, select schools, restaurants and clubs. Today, FIC is available nationwide.

“Twenty years ago we were the pioneer in the real, premium ice cream brand,” says Yoli Celdran, owner of FIC outlets in Powerplant, Makati Med and Trinoma.

To mark their anniversary, they decided to go back to the roots of ice cream itself, while continuing to level up with a creamier and more flavorful product in the tradition of producing premium ice cream.

The secret is the use of eggs, Celdran discloses. Traditionally, ice cream was made with eggs, giving it a rich, creamy texture. However, companies removed eggs from the ingredients for economic and sanitary reasons, making most of today’s ice creams a whittled-down version of what the confection originally was.

For their anniversary offering, TFPI has gone back to the original ice cream recipe. With today’s technology, past limitations have been addressed: there are better egg materials and formulations available. FIC’s frozen custard uses spray dried pasteurized whole eggs. The pasteurization kills bacteria, so there is no more risk of bacteria contamination like salmonella. The spray drying process removes water, making the eggs more stable. While cost is still an issue, TFPI is known not to skimp on its FIC ingredients.

The FIC frozen custard line likewise features clean and classic flavors that are meant to allow the flavor, texture and creaminess of the custard to shine through.  

The Mantecado Real custard is based on a traditional flavor popular in Cuba, Spain, Puerto Rico, as well as Spain-influenced Philippines. Its original recipe features eggs prominently, making it perfectly compatible with the frozen custard formulation. The Vanilla Bean custard uses natural flavors that are derived from real vanilla pods, going back to FIC’s commitment to using fresh ingredients. The Espresso custard uses high grown Arabica coffee beans from select farms, blended with dark roasted coffee extracts, creating a smooth and rich coffee flavor. The Dark Chocolate Truffle custard incorporates superior quality Callebaut cocoa powder and chocolate products, creating a robust and well-rounded chocolate profile, with shavings of chocolate truffle mixed in for a luxurious touch.

“It’s creamier, the texture is finer and more compact and the flavor is more intense. That’s what makes it different from regular ice cream,” Celdran says. In fact, the frozen custard is so rich that a spoonful is enough to satisfy sweet cravings – but who can stop at just one?

“FIC is not just ice cream… it’s a whole library of frozen desserts to choose from,” says Celdran. Reflecting on how the company was able to carve out a niche in the local market and has lasted 20 years, Celdran says, “We’ve stuck to the principle of making quality products. We have not done any shortcuts. We have stuck to the high quality that we have been known for since we started 20 years ago.”