Wells Enterprises history

The business continued to grow in the booming 1920s.

Around 1925, Fred H. Wells and his sons began manufacturing ice cream in Le Mars.

In 1927 Fred H. Wells and his brother, Harry C. Wells, began a partnership to distribute ice cream in Sioux City, Iowa, located about 25 miles south of Le Mars.

In 1928 Fairmont Ice Cream purchased the ice cream distribution system in Sioux City along with the right to use the Wells name.

In 1929 Fairmont Creamery bought the Wells Dairy plant in Sioux City, and the Le Mars firm agreed not to sell its products in the Sioux City region for the next five years.

In one episode in 1932 Association members threw rocks at a Wells Dairy vehicle carrying cans of milk.

In 1934 Wells Dairy resumed its Sioux City sales after the Fairmont agreement ended.

In 1935, the Wells family decided to sell ice cream in Sioux City again.

In 1936 the dairy added its first continuous ice cream freezer that produced 150 gallons per hour.

For example, in January 1944 the Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers of Iowa elected Roy Wells to serve as its new president.

After Fred H. Wells, Jr. died in 1954, his sons, Harold, Mike, Roy and Fay, and their cousin Fred D. Wells, son of Harry Cole Wells, ran the family business as a partnership.

In 1963 the company constructed its Le Mars Milk Plant.

The family retained ownership and management of the business after it was incorporated under Iowa law in 1977 as Wells' Dairy, Inc.

New corporate offices were added in 1980, and Wells built new facilities for its growing fleet of trucks used to deliver milk around Iowa.

In 1991, with its business expanding, Wells’ Dairy purchased 112 acres south of Le Mars where it built its new South Plant.

South Plant production crews made their first ice cream bars on July 2, 1992, using a state-of-the-art Glacier Omni 3000 ice cream machine.

In 1994 the Iowa legislature had proclaimed Le Mars to be the Ice Cream Capital of the World because it produced the most ice cream in one location.

In January 1999 Pillsbury closed a Woodbridge, New Jersey, plant that made Haagen-Dazs ice cream and then in February contracted with Wells' Dairy to manufacture Haagen-Dazs pint and bulk products, as well as that brand's ice cream, sorbet, and chocolate-coated ice cream bars.

To share its history and promote its business, Wells' Dairy in March 2000 opened the new Ice Cream Capital of the World Visitor Center also sponsored by the Le Mars Chamber of Commerce and local businesses.

In 2003, an ice cream plant in St George, Utah was opened to better meet the west coast market.

In November 2007, Mike Wells was named CEO of Wells.

In 2008, Wells Enterprises launched the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope Program in partnership with the Jimmie Johnson Foundation.

In 2009, at a time when due to changed ingredients, some ice creams fell outside the FDA definition of standardized Ice Cream (and started selling "frozen dairy dessert"), Wells' Dairy put a seal that said "Real Ice Cream" on all Blue Bunny products.

In 2014 Wells announced it would be closing the St George, UT facility.

"Wells’ Dairy, Inc. ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Retrieved April 15, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/wells-dairy-inc