Wanaka-based business Pure New Zealand Ice Cream has traceability of its supply chain covered from the farm to the freezer.
Since last summer, owners Richard and Tracey Bullock have been sourcing their milk daily from local dairy farm Lagoon Valley Farm.
It was believed to be the only boutique ice creamery in New Zealand to identify a single source of milk.
Mr and Mrs Bullock moved from Sydney to Wanaka with their two daughters in 2004 and launched Pure New Zealand Ice Cream five years ago.
Restaurateurs by trade, they were drawn to Upper Clutha as a place to bring up their children and also to set up a business.
Desserts had always been Mr Bullock's specialty and he made ice cream daily in Sydney using a small churn.
They decided to ''take that to another level'' while giving their children a different lifestyle.
When it came to settling in the South Island, the choice was between Nelson and Wanaka - and Wanaka won.
As well has having a ''lovely cosmopolitan edge'', it was also very much a community-based environment, Mrs Bullock said.
The first kitchen they rented was at Treble Cone in the summer and they drove up to the skifield every day to make ice cream.
Mrs Bullock joked that she knew the skifield road ''inside out'' as, sometimes, they would be nearly back in town when they received a phone call from a restaurant wanting another tub of ice cream, and they would have to turn round and head back.
That was a stepping stone to having their own space and they moved into a purpose-built kitchen in Wanaka about three years ago.
It was part of Mr Bullock's daily routine to drive to Lagoon Valley Farm, just a few kilometres out of Wanaka, to pick up the milk which was then pasteurised on-site.
''Sometimes, the farmer, Craig Wing, has only just finished milking the cows and it's so fresh you can see the layer of cream on top,'' Mr Bullock said.
Pure New Zealand Ice Cream was available at various supermarkets and specialty stores throughout New Zealand.
They also worked with individual restaurants, such as celebrity chef Josh Emett's Madam Woo, to create specific flavours.
The business had about a dozen core flavours which it produced regularly, including mascarpone, date and orange, kaffir lime and ginger, and fig and honey.
Its range was gluten-free, while its sorbets were dairy-free.
It endeavoured to source ingredients that were local and within New Zealand, while one of its major points of difference was everything was produced ''from scratch'', including sheets of hokey pokey which were then broken up, Mrs Bullock said.
Pure New Zealand Ice Cream has won a host of awards, including gold in the best of berries section for its raspberry gelato and silvers in the premium ice cream and gelato categories for its kaffir lime and ginger, and boysenberry, at this year's New Zealand Ice Cream Awards.
Business was steadily improving and it was intended to keep growing and take on more customers. Although there was no retail front at the moment, a shop was a possibility in the future, she said.
The couple's daughters, Lara and Tess, have been actively involved in the business. Now studying at university, they were the ''R and D team'', Mrs Bullock said.
