Community
6 August, 2025
25 years and counting
A POPULAR Timboon small business which has grown exponentially since its inception recently celebrated 25 years of operation.
Timboon Fine Ice Cream starts and ends in Timboon, using local ingredients from local dairy farms to create the ice cream loved by so many.
Owners Caroline Simmons and Tim Marwood began the business back in 1999, bringing on co-owner Rob Leadbetter further down the line.
Mrs Simmons said one of the keys to their success was a focus on keeping it local.
“Our product is based on local ingredients,” she said.
“People love the providence, that it is local – it starts and finishes here.
“There’s a sense of community that we have by working and living in Timboon.”
She said the product came to be while her and Mr Marwood were working on the family dairy farm and looking for a way to value-add.
“It hasn’t really changed – farmers just get told what prices they’re taking for their milk,” she said.
“We wanted to have a little bit more control over our destiny.
“We decided to create our own product and that’s how Timboon Fine Ice Cream was born.”
The business recently began selling ice cream for dogs, called Scoopys, which is low in fat and sugar, designed as a treat for your furry companions.
This is just one of their many expansions over the years.
Mr Marwood said it has been a slow burn to success, which hasn’t happened overnight.
“It hasn’t just happened like that – we’ve put a lot of work into it,” he said.
“Developing customers’ trust has been a big part of branching out further beyond the region.
“What we’ve learned in 25 years is that you don’t get to be 25 years in business without having great people around you.
“With our customers and staff that we have, we’re lucky to have that.”
Mr Leadbetter became involved with the business later, after the small group attended a social function together.
“We were at a social function one night and Tim asked me what I was doing and I was between jobs,” he said.
“He said, ‘Oh, good! You can give me a hand then.’
“My background is in bigger food manufacturing – I had that bigger business experience and was then able to bring some of those disciplines to the table.
“I love the ice cream – it’s a great product and it’s good fun to work with.”
While distributing to grocery stores is an important aspect of Timboon Fine Ice Cream, Mr Marwood said their focus for the future was on scoop shops.
“We’re looking at opening another shop in another regional town,” he said.
“We’ve just opened up in Ballarat and that’s been going well.
“We’re also looking at the 12 Apostles site, we’re looking to see how that develops and how we can complement the new site there.
“While grocery is an integral part of our business, scoop shops is where we’re looking at the moment.”
Mrs Simmons said scoop shops allowed them to be more in control of their product presentation.
“We like the model where we’ve got actual control of how our ice cream is presented and offered to the public,” she said.
“We like that it gives it more of a small business feel.
“Getting ice cream is almost seen as an affordable luxury.
“You might not be going out for a five-star meal or staying in a swanky hotel but you might come bring your kids or bring a friend and come and grab an ice cream.
“It’s nice to be able to offer that – a little nostalgic treat.”
Mr Marwood said while he was excited to celebrate this milestone, he wanted to acknowledge farmers who were doing it tough.
“We acknowledge that a lot of the local farmers are going through a really hard time at the moment,” he said.
“We’re sensitive to those pressures, financially, that are on farmers because of the drought.
“We’re just hoping everyone gets through.”
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