Richard Smith, 62; Entrepreneur Created Früsen-Gladjé Ice Cream

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Richard Smith, who died January 29 at age 62, was the entrepreneur behind Früsen-Gladjé, the Swedish-themed super-premium ice cream that debuted in 1979.


Already an old hand in the business as a third-generation ice-cream man who had reinvented the Dolly Madison brand, Smith went on to manufacture or market Chipwich, Eskimo Pie, Godiva, Schrafft’s, Sedutto,Tofutti,Yogen Früz, and many other frozen dessert brands. At the time of his death, he was co-chairman and co-CEO of CoolBrands International Inc., which specializes in exactly what its name indicates.

Früsen-Gladjé was launched in 1979 and almost immediately was hit with a lawsuit from another faux-Scandinavian brand, Häagen-Dazs, which sued Früsen-Gladjé for trading on its “unique Scandinavian marketing theme” and also, incredibly, for its umlaut. Both brands featured maps of their respective home countries (bitter enemies as recently as 1657), lists of artificial ingredients that they did not contain, and instructions for slightly melting the product before eating. The resemblances ended there; Früsen-Gladjé came in a futuristic screw-top white plastic capsule, while Häagen-Dazs sat in a dowdy cardboard pint. The court found in favor of Früsen-Gladjé.

In 1981, Smith told United Press International he founded the upstart brand in a fit of pique when Häagen-Dazs refused to allow him to distribute 2.5-gallon tubs rather than its standard pints. “They were afraid of what I might do with the bulk ice cream since they are starting their chain of dip-stores,” Smith told UPI. “I told them if they refused to sell me Häagen-Dazs in bulk containers, I’d start my own premium brand with a funny sounding name.”


Smith was born in New York into the family that owned the Smith Brothers Ice Cream Co., a company dating from the turn of the century that manufactured Duvall French Ice Cream at Manhattan and delivered it by horse-drawn carriage. Smith’s grandfather had emigrated from Russia and gotten into the coal delivery business. Like many coal men, he started delivering ice during the slow summer months; then he hit on icecream manufacturing.


The business was rough in the early days. “There were constant struggles between small businesses over routes,” Smith told UPI. “Dirty tricks were played like poisoning delivery horses.” The Smith brothers were at one time named in a lawsuit against a federal health inspector whom several manufacturers had teamed up to bribe.


As a teenager, Smith made popsicles at the family’s factory on Second Avenue and 92nd Street. The plant was advanced for its time — the first in New York to use electric refrigeration instead of salt and ice. Now closed, it is said to have been the last ice cream plant in Manhattan.

After completing law school at Syracuse — he never practiced — Smith set up ice cream concessions at the 1964 World’s Fair. When his father sold out to Dolly Madison in 1968, Smith went to work for the oddly constituted conglomerate that included a vertically integrated furniture business. When the corporation fell apart, Smith bought the Dolly Madison trademark and transformed it into a national brand. He purchased an interest in Calip Dairies, which became one of the leading ice-cream distributors in the metropolitan area, distributing Dolly Madison, Schrafft’s, and at first, Häagen-Dazs.


In the early 1980s, the super premium ice-cream wars heated up. A third faux-European brand entered the fray: Alpen Zauber, manufactured in Brooklyn. Tofutti weighed in. Major corporations began to take an interest. Häagen-Dazs sold out to Pillsbury in early 1985. Six months later, Smith sold Früsen-Gladjé to Kraft.


Smith immediately purchased Steve’s Ice Cream of Boston, which he took public in 1986, and then acquired Swenson’s Ice Cream, which included franchise outlets. In 1998, Smith merged his company with Yogen Früz to create CoolBrands International. Coolbrands has since acquired Eskimo Pie Corporation, Fruit-A-Freeze, and Chipwich.

Asked why he diversified and expanded his ice-cream businesses with such intensity, Smith once said, “Some people think I’m just driven by the desire to make money, but I doubt that. I think creative marketing itself drives me more than the money it brings in.”


Smith lived in Southampton. He is survived by his mother,Fay; his wife, Susan; his son, David, and two grandsons.


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