House of Flavors facts for kids
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House of Flavors painted up sitting benches outside in front of the ice cream parlor
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| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1929 Ludington, Michigan, U.S. |
| Founders |
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| Products | Ice cream Dairy Snack |
House of Flavors is a company that makes and sells ice cream. It is located in Ludington, Michigan. The business began as a dairy farm before 1930. In 1935, it became known as Miller's Dairy and started to grow. By the 1940s, they were making milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese, and ice cream. Later in the 1940s, a businessman joined the company. He had a lot of experience with dairy products. The company's name changed to Park Dairy. Soon, they decided to focus only on making ice cream.
Today, House of Flavors has a fun 1950s-style ice cream parlor and restaurant. It is on the main street in Ludington. Other stores are in Pentwater, Michigan and Zeeland, Michigan. The main ice cream factory is behind the restaurant. It employs about 150 people. They make thousands of different ice cream flavors there. Their most famous flavor is "Blue Moon" ice cream. They send their ice cream products all over the world.
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How House of Flavors Began
House of Flavors started in 1929. Guy W. Hawley founded it as a dairy business. It was part of a farm operation back then. Later, Guy Hawley partnered with Roland Benedict and Albert Bradshaw. In 1935, Albert Miller bought out Benedict and Bradshaw. The dairy business then became known as Miller's Dairy.
In 1936, they started building a new, bigger dairy facility. It was finished in 1937. The front of the building had a store. It sold dairy products and coffee. The back part was for bottling and packaging dairy items. Later that year, the dairy bought two local ice cream companies.
Robert B. Neal, also known as "Bob" Sr., joined the company. He came from Grand Haven, Michigan. Bob Sr. had many years of experience in the dairy business. The company's name changed to Park Dairy. This was because it was near the city's main park. Bob Sr. became the general manager.
Growing the Ice Cream Business
The company's name changed to House of Flavors in 1959. Bob Sr.'s son, Bob Jr., became a partner after college. The main factory in Ludington got new, modern equipment. By 1972, the company offered 36 different kinds of ice cream. They also had 40 franchised stores across Michigan.
Today, House of Flavors makes over 3,000 different ice cream flavors. This includes 400 types of vanilla! They sell their ice cream to customers worldwide.
Daily Operations and Fun Facts
In the early 1970s, Bob Sr. started to work less. His son, Bob Jr., took over most of the business. Bob Jr. opened twelve ice cream restaurant parlors with friends. This partnership ended in 1980. Many of these parlors then became private restaurants. Some still use the "House of Flavors" name. The original company still packages ice cream for them. As of 2016, about 150 people work at the ice cream factory in Ludington.
House of Flavors sells its popular Blue Moon ice cream across the United States. This flavor even inspired their ice cream cone mascot. His name is "Mr. Moonie," and he was introduced in 1996.
In the 1950s and 60s, Life Magazine wrote about House of Flavors. The magazine's cover showed local children. They were blowing paper straw coverings onto the ceiling. The coverings would stick there, which was a fun tradition.
Setting a Guinness World Record
On June 11, 2016, House of Flavors broke a Guinness Record. They made the world's longest ice cream dessert! It was over half a mile long. The dessert stretched along Ludington Avenue. It went for 2,970 feet, covering eight city blocks. Thousands of people enjoyed the ice cream from about 18,000 cups.
This amazing event took months of planning. The dessert used 900 gallons of ice cream. It also had 800 pounds of chocolate syrup. There were 600 containers of whipped cream. And about 2,000 Michigan maraschino cherries topped it off. The previous record was 1,957 feet, set in 2015.
Fifteen hundred volunteers helped make and serve the dessert. Many event helpers wore pirate costumes. A group of engineers and officials watched to make sure all Guinness rules were followed. This became an official Guinness World Record on October 19, 2016.
