Think Walmart Makes Its Great Value Products? Think Again — There Are Much Bigger Brand Behind It
If your go-to place to buy ice cream is Walmart, there's an interesting fact you may not have heard. Although the retail giant's own ice cream brand, called Great Value, tastes as good as established brands, there are bigger players behind the product, according to The Takeout.
Just like Sara Lee makes Great Value breads, and Kellogg's is behind the company's cereals, its ice creams are produced by a company called Wells Dairy. The name of the company may not sound familiar, but you might recognize it from the taste. According to the publication, the company located in Le Mars, Iowa, is also known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World. It was established in 1913 as a milk delivery service and didn't start producing ice cream until 1925. It has since continued to produce ice cream and other frozen treats for brands including Blue Bunny, Halo Top, Bomb Pop, and Blue Ribbon Classics.
Large-scale production creates the Great Value ice cream that shoppers relish. The huge dairy manufacturer in Le Mars has a 900,000 square foot plant and a 12-story-tall freezer. The company has another manufacturing unit set up in New York that's equally large. Wells Dairy produces more than 150 million gallons of ice cream every year. Great Value products clearly bring great business for Wells Enterprises because it's easily accessible and affordable for budget-constrained customers. However, the mothership company has also left a mark of its own in the frozen treat industry.
The Wells Enterprise has a visitors center in Le Mars, which tourists can visit and sample over 40 different flavors of ice cream. The perks aren't limited to that. Those interested can also observe how the machines manufacture these delicious treats every day. The whole experience is a treat for the taste buds and the eyes. However, Wells wasn't always the source behind Walmart's Great Value ice creams. The collaboration began when a Walmart store started selling the Blue Bunny line of ice cream, the kind Wells produces.
The enterprise agreed to sell its products via Walmart, presumably to increase its reach. They also agreed on making ice cream for Walmart's own company, Great Value, a deal that eventually benefited both parties. This explains the impeccable taste and high quality of ice cream at reasonable prices. It's been nearly 4 decades since the two companies struck a golden business deal, and the quality has remained the same. The team tests hundreds of samples before creating the final product to make sure that the quality is top-notch, as per Walmart. Moreover, the company's Culinary and Innovation Center continues to come up with new flavors and interesting add-ons to make the ice cream experience more fun.
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