President. 1977: T. Gary Rogers and W.F. Cronk purchase Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream for $1 million. 1981: Dreyer's went public and its shares were traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "DRYR". The company also re-adopts the Edy's Grand Ice Cream name when marketing its product east of the Rocky Mountains, so its not confused with Breyers. Around this same time, current Dreyer's President Ken Cook went into the vanilla business. Since that time Dreyer's ice cream has been made with Cook's Vanilla which is produced by Cook Flavoring Company. 2002: In June, Nestlé acquired Dreyer's for $3.2 billion, thus becoming the biggest ice cream maker, with a 17.5% market share. Dreyer's has also acquired its own ice cream brands, including the Snelgrove's Ice Cream brand in Utah. 2004: Dreyer's began using a new churning processes called low-temperature extrusion. Unlike traditional churning methods, the ice cream does not need to be frozen once it is done churning. Since this freezing stage produces large ice crystals, which gives the ice cream a grainy texture, manufacturers would add milk fat to counterbalance the grainy texture. As this extra freezing process isn't necessary with low-temperature extrusion, the "slow churned" line of ice cream is labeled as containing two-thirds the calories and half the fat of "regular" ice cream. Dreyer's has also extended this process to other brands besides its two flagship brands, such as Häagen-Dazs, which it produces under a license from General Mills. 2006: Dreyer's Whiskey Bottom Ice Cream plant in Laurel, Maryland, is expanded to give Dreyer's the two largest ice cream plants in the United States. 2016: Nestlé and PAI Partners agree to set up a joint venture, Froneri, to combine their ice cream and frozen food activities. Froneri initially is only set up for those businesses in Europe and other international countries. 2020: Nestle sells all of its US ice cream businesses, including Dreyer's, Häagen-Dazs, and Drumstick to Froneri for $4 billion. Cost-cutting changes In 2002, Nestlé insisted on a smaller container to increase profits and so the standard US half gallon (2 quart) container (1.89 L) was downsized to 1.75 quarts (1.65 L). In May 2008, the 1.75 quart container was further downsized to 1.5 quarts (1.42 L). Most other ice cream manufacturers, with the notable exception of Blue Bell, followed the downsizing move. References External links Companies based in Oakland, California Food and drink companies established in