Wells Enterprises, Inc. is the largest privately held ice cream manufacturer in the United States. Founded in 1913, the company produces more than 200 million gallons of ice cream per year and distributes products in all 50 states. Wells and its nearly 4,000 employees manufacture its signature brand Blue Bunny, lower-calorie Halo Top, the iconic Bomb Pop, and Blue Ribbon Classics from Le Mars, Iowa, the “Ice Cream Capital of the World” as the largest manufacturer of ice cream in one location, and plants in Dunkirk, New York, and Henderson, Nevada. July is National Ice Cream month, and who better than to talk about all things ice cream than Brad Galles, vice president of Manufacturing and Engineering for Wells Enterprises.

Demographic shifts and the rise of online grocery and food delivery services are driving demand for strategically located, multi-node cold storage networks. Dennis Davis, senior director of business customer development at DHL Supply Chain and Josh Lewis, president at RL Cold discuss the partnership’s plans for 5 million square feet of new space across North America. 

The industry is entering a new phase where packaging design must account for the entire product lifecycle, from material selection and manufacturing to end-of-life recovery and reuse. Paige Greenberg, sustainable packaging engineer at Plastic Ingenuity, joins From the Cold Corner to discuss more.

In this episode, we're diving in to the story behind Swoop, the third place finisher in our annual Best New Retail Products contest. Meghan Dowd, co-founder of Swoop, tells us about everything from the initial concept to formulation, manufacturing, and what is next for the brand.

Teton Waters Ranch is expanding its footprint in the frozen aisle with a new line of raw burger patties that prioritize sourcing transparency, animal welfare and simplified ingredients. The product recently earned second place in Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ annual Best New Retail Products contest.

The U.S. cold storage sector is entering a new phase, as operators balance softer inventories and cautious consumer spending with rapid advances in automation, sustainability and facility design. That evolution is reshaping how temperature-controlled facilities are built — and what they are expected to do.

In the final episode of the Cold Storage Deep Dive podcast series, Jennifer Jewers Bowlin and Craig Handy of Henderson Engineers discussed how flexibility and future-proofing are becoming central to cold storage development.

Rob Chambers, Americold CEO, on optimizing a global food network, deeper customer partnerships and more.