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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| Private | |
| 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 yummy ice cream! It's located in Ludington, Michigan. It began a long time ago, even before 1930, as a dairy farm. By 1935, it was called Miller's Dairy and started to grow. In the 1940s, they made milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese, and, of course, ice cream.
Later, in the 1940s, a dairy expert joined the company. The name changed to Park Dairy, and he became the boss. They decided to focus only on making ice cream, selling off the milk and butter parts of the business.
Today, you can visit a fun 1950s-themed ice cream parlor and restaurant in Ludington. Other stores have been in Manistee, and are in Pentwater and Zeeland, Michigan. The big ice cream factory is behind the restaurant. It employs about 150 people and creates thousands of different ice cream flavors. Their special flavor is "Blue Moon" ice cream, and they send their ice cream products all over the world!
Contents
The Story of House of Flavors
How It All Started
House of Flavors began in 1929. A man named Guy W. Hawley started a dairy business in Ludington. At first, it was just part of his farm. After 1930, Guy Hawley teamed up 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. It was finished in 1937.
Growing the Business
The new building had a store at the front where they sold dairy products and coffee. The back part was where they bottled milk and packaged products. Later that year, the dairy, owned by Hawley and Miller, bought two other local ice cream companies.
A man named Robert B. Neal, who had lots of experience with dairy, moved to Ludington. He became a partner in the company. The name of Miller's Dairy changed to Park Dairy. This was because it was close to the main city park. Robert Neal became the general manager.
Becoming House of Flavors
The company's name changed to House of Flavors in 1959. Robert Neal's son, Bob Jr., joined his father as a partner after finishing college. The original factory in Ludington was updated with new machines.
By 1972, House of Flavors made three dozen different kinds of ice cream. They also had 40 stores across Michigan. Today, they make over 3,000 different ice cream flavors. This includes 400 kinds of vanilla! They ship their ice cream to customers all over the world.
How House of Flavors Works Today
Running the Company
In the early 1970s, Bob Sr. started to work less and semi-retired. His son, Bob Jr., took over most of the business. He opened twelve ice cream restaurants with his friends. By 1980, these partnerships ended.
Many of these restaurants became privately owned. Some still use the "House of Flavors" name. The main company still packages ice cream for these businesses. As of 2016, the ice cream factory in Ludington employs about 150 people.
Mr. Moonie and Famous Features
House of Flavors sells its special Blue Moon ice cream across the United States. This flavor even inspired their ice cream cone mascot, "Mr. Moonie." They introduced Mr. Moonie in 1996.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Life Magazine wrote an article about House of Flavors. The magazine cover showed local children blowing their paper straw wrappers onto the ceiling, where they would stick!
Guinness World Record 2016
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 for 2,970 feet.
Thousands of people enjoyed the ice cream from about 18,000 cups. The dessert was made of Blue Moon, mint, and vanilla ice cream.
Making the Record-Breaking Dessert
It took many months to plan and prepare for this amazing event. The dessert used 900 gallons of ice cream. It also had 800 pounds of chocolate syrup, 600 containers of whipped cream, and about 2,000 Michigan maraschino cherries.
The previous world record for an ice cream dessert was 1,957 feet. That record was set in 2015. For the House of Flavors event, 1,500 volunteers helped make and hand out the dessert. Many people helping wore pirate costumes.
Engineers and officials watched to make sure all the Guinness rules were followed. On October 19, 2016, it became an official Guinness World Record! However, on March 24, 2018, the Spirit of Texas Festival broke this record.
