One of the most exciting things we were looking forward to on our Northeast Fall Adventures trip for my birthday one October was a tasty treat at Ben and Jerry’s Factory. We had been looking forward to visiting this factory for so long and could hardly believe we were finally going to be able to take a tour.
A couple of our friends were also visiting Vermont with us and had wanted to visit their factory also. My friend and I did some research and found out we had to make reservations two weeks in advance during certain times of the year. Luckily they had many different times available and we booked our tour as soon as we were able to make reservations.
While doing research we learned quite a bit of history about the Ben and Jerry’s Factory. I will share a little bit here before continuing with our tour experience. The Ben and Jerry franchise started meekly in 1978 when they opened their first ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. They celebrated their first year in business by holding the first ever Free Ice Cream Day.
In 1980 Ben and Jerry’s starting packing ice cream in pints to distribute to local mom and pop stores. They really came to popularity when in 1987 they introduced the Cherry Garcia ice cream after Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. It is still a hit today with people everywhere.
In 1991 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was released in pints after years of research and development. The flavor rocketed to the top of the most-popular-in-pints list. Today it still reigns among their all-time flavor hits. Great music and renowned concert tours of the Vermont-based musical group, Phish lead to the creation of Phish Food flavor in 1997.
In 2012 Ben and Jerry’s got creative with real Greek yogurt, introducing an epic selection of Greek Frozen Yogurt flavors that are uniquely creamy, boldly loaded with chunks and swirls, and really Greekin’ good! A few years later in 2016 Ben and Jerry’s came out with non-dairy flavors. Some of the first non-dairy flavors in their line-up were: Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Chunky Monkey, Coffee Caramel Fudge and P.B. & Cookies. Today the factory, which was built in 1985, continues to manufacture upwards of 350,000 pints per day while offering fans a sneak peek at their beginnings.
All of this information made us quite eager for our tour. We arrived early with our friends and walked around their cute gift shop while we waited for our tour to begin. To signal the beginning of our tour they ran a cowbell and said the tour was starting. I thought it was a cute way to get people into the spirit of the experience. Our tour guide welcomed us, and told us what to expect during the tour, a few do’s and don’ts, along with a few cow jokes. Lol
We started the tour with what they called a Moo-vie where we learned more about their history, which I shared some above, as well as the culture behind Ben and Jerry’s. After the movie, we walked along their glassed-in mezzanine overlooking the production room floor where our tour guide explained how they make their pints. We weren’t allowed to take pictures during this portion of the tour, but I have to share that the pints come down out of one of the machines, called the bundler, upside down and then shrink wrapped. I thought that was crazy but it is frozen by then and the workers can tell if the pints are full and dated correctly. It is a pretty interesting process.
Happily as we were leaving (maybe to make up for not being allowed to take pictures) they gave us a sample of one of the chunks they use in their cookie dough ice cream I believe. It was good, whatever ice cream(s) it is used in. The last stop on the tour was the Flavor Room where we heard a few more cow jokes and were able to taste the newest flavor they were working on at the time, butterscotch. We all enjoyed it, however, it didn’t seem to have enough flavor and we told the tour guide our opinion as they were looking for feedback. I hope it will make it to market one day.
After the tour we walked around a little more inside. Eventually we made our way outside and checked out the Flavor Graveyard where they have the Dearly De-pinted flavors, lol. Some of them did sound amazing. It was a very tasty treat to visit the Ben and Jerrys Factory and tour their museum. We each also bought a pint of ice cream and had fun picking our favorite flavor. If you are ever in the Burlington/Waterbury area, this should definitely be on your list. Here is a link to their website with more info when you plan your trip. Happy travels!
Ben and Jerry’s Factory Tour Information
1281 Waterbury-Stowe Rd Route 100, Waterbury Village Historic District, VT 05676
(802) 337-1201
Daily 10 AM – 6 PM
Tickets: Factory Experience tickets are released two weeks in advance of any chosen date. Day of and walk-in ticket availability will vary each day based on staffing with the potential of NO availability. Ticket prices are: $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 65+, and $1 for Children, age 2-12, plus service fee. Infants do not need a ticket for the Factory Experience.
The Ben and Jerry’s factory tour is ADA compliant.
