In 1922, Lever Brothers bought Wall’s, a popular sausage company. However, at the time, perishable products couldn’t be properly distributed and sales dropped dramatically during warmer weather. So Richard Wall had the idea to diversify into ice cream to keep business up in the summer months. Initial sales were disappointing, as retailers were reluctant to buy in quantity. The solution was to sell directly to the consumer with salesmen sent out on tricycles.
This was the first time in Britain that ice cream had been factory-made, pre-hardened and wrapped for mass distribution, branded and retailed in this way. Today Wall’s helps thousands of long-term unemployed individuals and young people earn a living by becoming ice-cream vendors.