Who Makes Publix Ice Cream?

Ice cream has gotten us through a lot — heatwaves, breakups, tonsillitis. If you live in states like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Tennessee, or Virginia, one of the items you absolutely cannot skip at Publix is the ice cream. From the classics like Mint Chocolate Chip to limited-edition specials like Strawberry Lime Chilly, Publix has a very diverse lineup of store brand ice creams. But, who makes them?

Most big retailers (such as Costco and Walmart) don't own any manufacturing facilities and instead partner with independent manufacturers that create products for many different brands. Publix, however, actually owns several facilities where it manufactures products for its own store brand. The company has three dairy plants, with two in Florida and one in Georgia. The dairy in Lakeland, Florida is the biggest and represents the core location for Publix ice cream production and development. Not only does it produce 20 million cartons of ice cream every year, according to Fox13, but it's also the place where a special team of employees consistently comes up with new ice cream concepts. Those concepts are then carefully tested, and top-performing ones hit the shelves, rivaling some of the best ice cream brands.

Publix has been in the ice cream game for a long time. One of the interesting facts about this beloved grocery store is that it first opened a dairy plant more than four decades ago in 1980, located at none other than the Lakeland facility. At the time, Publix was celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the beginning of its own line of ice cream production was part of the company's big expansion strategy. The first flavors included classics like Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry; plus, the Neapolitan trio. For a more premium ice cream flavors, shoppers could also indulge in cartons of rich Fudge Royal or fruity Strawberry Royal.

As for how new flavors come to be, the process starts with picking out the star ingredients, usually inspired by food trends and flavors that the customers are interested in. Once the ingredients are set and the recipe developed, it's testing time. Often, the first people to sample a new ice cream creation are Publix employees. Since 1998, the company has consistently been featured on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, and we can see why. Getting paid to routinely try new ice cream flavors? Sign us up.