As the market economy develops, the ice cream battle heats up - or cools down? - in large and flourishing cities like Shanghai, presenting a sharp contrast to what happened a century ago, when Shanghai's cold drink market was almost completely monopolized by the Henningsen Produce Company.

Owned by an American businessman named A.P. Henningsen, the company enjoyed an extremely prosperous business. With its scope ranging from cookies to cold drinks, Henningsen raked in huge sums of money, but few knew the magnate had landed here with only US$36 in his pocket.

A.P. Henningsen was the son of a once wealthy food producer in America. The young Henningsen decided to make a new start in Shanghai, the "Paris of the East," together with his cousin and sister-in-law, in the hope of restoring his former prosperity.

Henningsen joined the American Club shortly after his arrival, which enabled him to raise the funds to import food-processing equipment from America. At first, the business was mainly focused on egg processing.

With reasonable prices and fine quality, his company's egg products sold well in American and European markets which bought him substantial profits.

Henningsen broadened his business scope further into ice cream and other milk products in 1927, after realizing that there was no bona fide ice-cream producer in Shanghai.

He soon started to promote his "Beauty" ice creams, together with other food products like milk powder and candies, winning his company a great number of loyal customers. His later acquisition of Sullivan's Fine Candies fulfilled his hopes of establishing a food syndicate in the city.

It should be mentioned, however, that Henningsen was not in fact a well-behaved and honest businessman. On the contrary, taking advantage of being a board member of the Committee on Roads and Jetties, he forced the officials in the affiliated Public Health Department to crack down wantonly upon his Chinese competitors, whose "Goose" brand ice cream, for example, was forced out of business.

The company was taken over by the Japanese during War of Resistance against Japan (1937-45), but was handed back to its American owner in 1946. After Liberation in 1949, the company changed hands again, this time to be restructured into a Chinese State-Owned Enterprise and renamed as the Yi Min Food Factory. Former President Jiang Zemin was once its vice-director.

(HK Edition 08/01/2003 page1)