The bunny bounces west

摘要

The chief executive of Wells' Dairy, Doug Wells, is clear about where the owner of the Blue Bunny ice cream brand is heading. "We are expanding westward," he says. "To be a top national brand in the next few years, we know that we need to continue to grow our current western markets like Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah." Wells' Dairy Inc was founded in 1913, and is the largest family owned and managed dairy processor in the United States. Its Blue Bunny branded range covers more than 500 products. The company sells ice cream in retail in around 32 states throughout the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest of the country as well as internationally in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Blue Bunny products can also be found in restaurants, sport venues, theme parks, convenience stores and off vending trucks nationwide. Until recently, this all came from two plants in the company's hometown of Le Mars in Iowa. Here, Wells' already produced more than 385 million litres of ice cream each year. The newer of the two is the largest free standing ice cream facility in the world. It was built by Wells' in 1992 and has since gone through several expansion phases. The most recent of these was the addition of a high rise freezer, which started operating in late 2003.