SEASONAL FLAVORS
Summer: Peach ice cream made with fresh peaches from Northern Virginia
October/November: Pumpkin
November/December: Cinnamon
December: Eggnog and Peppermint
TAKE A TOUR
Get a behind the scenes look at how the ice cream is made for free at the Bethel Road location in Columbus. The tour is free, but no free samples are offered. For hours and more details, see the Graeter’s ice cream website. To schedule a tour, call (614) 442-7622, ext. 272, or fill out an online request form on the Graeter’s website (http://graeters.com).
LOCATIONS
For more information than listed below, go online to www.graeters.com.
Cincinnati area locations
Cherry Grove, 8533 Beechmont Ave., Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 474-5636
Clifton, 332 Ludlow Ave., Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 281-4749
Deerfield, 5076 Natorp Blvd., Mason
Phone: (513) 339-0140
Finneytown, 899 W. Galbraith, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 522-8157
Fountain Square, 511 Walnut St., Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 381-4191
Hyde Park Square, 2704 Erie Ave., Cincinnati,
Phone: (513) 321-6221
Kenwood, 7369 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 793-5665
Mariemont Square, 6918 Wooster Pike, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 272-0859
Mount Auburn, 2145 Reading Road, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 721-6265
Northgate, 9356 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 385-5045
Springdale, 11511 Princeton Pike, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 771-7157
West Chester, 7651 Cox Lane, West Chester
Phone: (513) 755-2236
Western Hills, 2376 Ferguson Road, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 451-1484
Western Hills, 3301 Westbourne Drive, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 922-8700
Columbus area locations
Corporate office/Bethel Road store, 2555 Bethel Road, Columbus
Phone: (614) 442-7622
Bexley, 2282 E. Main St., Bexley
Phone: (614) 236-2663
Dublin, 6255 Frantz Road, Dublin
Phone: (614) 799-2663
Easton, 147 Easton Town Center, Columbus
Phone: (614) 476-2094
Gahanna, 425 Beecher Road, Gahanna
Phone: (614) 855-5508
Pickerington, 1500 Cross Creeks Blvd., Pickerington
Phone: (614) 755-9865
Powell, 3762 W. Powell Road, Powell
Phone: (614) 336-3661
Upper Arlington, 1534 W. Lane Ave., Columbus
Phone: (614) 488-3222
Westerville, 1 N. State St., Westerville
Phone: (614) 895-0553
Worthington, 654 High St., Worthington
Phone: (614) 848-5151
Dayton area locations
Beavercreek, 2330-A N. Fairfield Road, Beavercreek
Phone: (937) 427-4700
Centerville, 2 N. Main St., Centerville
Phone: (937) 312-9001
Springboro, 752 Gardner Road, Springboro
Phone: (937) 748-0300
Oakwood, 2412 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood
Phone: (937) 534-0602
Graeter’s Ice Cream is a Cincinnati tradition that keeps reaching farther and farther from home.
The company, which has humble beginnings with Louis C. Graeter making ice cream and selling it on the streets of the Queen City 142 years ago, has grown to a $30 million dollar operation with the brand carried in more than 6,700 stores across 49 states.
Attracting high-profile fans such as TV empire owner Oprah Winfrey helps. She has called Graeter’s “the best ice cream you’ll ever eat.”
The secret of the company’s success is simple, according to the fourth-generation family members running the company: sticking to the recipe.
“We are still using the same method, the French pot process, that my great grandfather did, and we are the only commercial ice cream company in the whole world that still uses this process,” said Rich Graeter, president and CEO of Graeter’s Inc. “It truly makes a difference.”
The French pot process is a labor and time intensive process that folds the ice cream onto itself, preventing air from whipping into the ingredients. It accounts for the extremely dense, creamy consistency Graeter’s is known for.
“Our secret recipe of fresh cream and egg custard is gently swirled along the chilled sides of a slowly spinning French pot freezer. As the mixture blends, a blade softly scrapes the sides of the pot, folding the ice cream on itself. Then we add fresh ingredients to complete our unique flavors,” Graeter says.
In 2010 the company built a new 28,000-square-foot plant on Regina Graeter Way in Bond Hill, Cincinnati, to quadruple its capacity to produce and distribute ice cream. It was the first new plant it had opened since 1934, and the addition helped them increase production to more than one million gallons annually.
Although the company has seen many changes over the years, the recipe and the flavors have remained true to the vision laid out from the very beginning.
“We are traditional ice cream company. We make flavors that are good ol’ American Flavors,” Grater said. “Our most popular flavor, which is a little different, is the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip. That is a relatively new flavor for us. We have been making it about 25 years. They are made with black raspberries from Oregon, and it’s paired with our signature chips. We can make our chips more like slabs because of the French pot process. We pour liquid chocolate into the pot and let it freeze then crack the chocolate in to slabs of rich chocolate.”
Superpremium ice cream racks up $1.4 billion in annual sales, accounting for 14.4 percent of frozen dessert sales, according to Marketresearch.com. As Graeter’s continutes to look to take a bigger bite out of the market, it’s not lost on company leaders how they were able to get there — hard work, savvy business decisions, a classic recipe, a rock-solid family foundation and vision and, of course, their fans.
“Graeter’s fans are the best in the world. They are passionate about the brand and feel an ownership with the brand. We recently hit a great milestone by signing up the 150,000th fan to Facebook. The Graeter’s (locations) understand this connection and have an uncompromising commitment to deliver against their expectations,” Graeter said.
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