The Company Behind Walmart's Great Value Ice Cream Is Bigger Than You Might Expect

Walmart shoppers know that the corporate giant has its own house brand called Great Value. And shoppers on a budget know that this brand, found amongst the scores of other name brands that Walmart carries, is often priced lower than the others. In my personal experience, the Great Value brand is just as good as fancier brands. Come to find out, this is because some of these fancier brands actually make Great Value brand products. For example, Sara Lee makes Great Value breads, and Kellogg's (whose major cereal recall took millions of boxes off shelves) produces some Great Value cereals. When it comes to Walmart's ice creams, a company called Wells Dairy has been churning out the Great Value brand for decades. You may not recognize the name, but you'll know many of the ice creams it makes.

Located in Le Mars, Iowa, which is also known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World, Wells Dairy (which is now officially called Wells Enterprises) began in 1913 as a horse-drawn wagon milk delivery service. In 1925, it began making ice cream and hasn't stopped. Not only does Wells Dairy make Great Value ice cream, but it also produces the frozen treats for Blue Bunny, Halo Top, Bomb Pop, and Blue Ribbon Classics. The dairy manufacturer is so huge that overall production requires a 900,000 square foot plant and a freezer that is 12 stories tall. And this is just in Le Mars; the company also has a production facility in New York. Overall, Wells Dairy makes over 150 million gallons of ice cream every year.

Churning out Great Value brand ice cream is undoubtedly a huge piece of Wells Enterprises' business, but the size and overall impact that the company has made in the frozen treat world is also notable. There is an entire Wells Enterprises visitors center in Le Mars where throngs of tourists visit every year to sample ice cream (the ice cream parlor has 40 flavors to choose from), tour the facilities, and get a glimpse of how all that ice cream is made every day. If you like the Great Value brand Sea Salt Caramel ice cream flavor, which we found to taste just as good as other brand names, try the parlor's Salted Caramel Craze flavor and see how it compares.

Wells didn't always make Great Value ice cream. In fact, the relationship between the two corporations began with a Walmart store in Kansas selling the Blue Bunny line of ice cream, which Wells was already making at the time. In what would become an enormous business relationship, Wells agreed to make the Great Value brand of ice cream, while Walmart would continue to sell Blue Bunny (not to mention Halo Top, Bomb Pops, and Blue Ribbon) in its stores, even when offered right next to its own house brand. If you like Bomb Pops, we ranked some flavors to find the one that reigns supreme.