Ben & Jerry's Factory

State: Vermont. Type: working ice cream factory and visitor tour in Waterbury, Washington County. Built in 1985 as Ben & Jerry's original manufacturing plant; guided public tours began in 1986. Still produces roughly 350,000 pints of ice cream a day and is described by the company as the only Ben & Jerry's facility open to the public.

Ben & Jerry's Factory in Waterbury is the original production plant of the ice-cream company founded by childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who started the business on May 5, 1978 in a renovated Burlington gas station after taking a correspondence course in ice cream making. As the company grew beyond its first scoop shop, it built this Waterbury factory in 1985 and opened it to public tours the following year, turning the plant itself into a roadside attraction. Today the site combines an active production facility with a visitor experience: a short guided tour explains the company's origin and culture, gives a glassed-in view of the production floor, and ends with a tasting of a current flavor. Outside, visitors can wander the seasonal "Flavor Graveyard," a tongue-in-cheek mock cemetery for discontinued flavors, browse the gift shop, and get a scoop at the on-site scoop shop. Because it is a real, running factory rather than a re-creation, guides are upfront that active production is not guaranteed on any given visit, but the plant's role as the company's founding manufacturing site gives the tour its main appeal.

The factory is in Waterbury, Vermont, in Washington County, just off Interstate 89 in north-central Vermont. It sits roughly 10 miles south of Stowe, and Waterbury itself has grown into a small hub of Vermont food-and-drink attractions, including the nearby Cold Hollow Cider Mill and Cabot Farmer's Store.

Vermont has a humid continental climate with four distinct seasons. Winters (December-March) are cold and snowy, common through Waterbury's inland, higher-elevation setting; summers (June-August) are mild and warm, generally comfortable for a factory visit or a walk around the grounds. Spring and fall bring cooler, changeable weather, with fall drawing visitors for foliage. Specific local temperature and snowfall figures were not sourced from the official pages fetched for this entry.

Summer draws the largest crowds because it lines up with the factory's extended 10 a.m.-8 p.m. hours (as of the season beginning June 26) and with Vermont's peak travel season generally. Visiting on a weekday or arriving earlier in the day can help avoid the busiest tour slots. Fall foliage season is also popular in this part of Vermont, though the source material did not give factory-specific shoulder-season hours.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, friends from Merrick, New York, opened their first ice cream parlor in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont on May 5, 1978, after a planned bagel shop proved too costly and they instead took a correspondence course in ice cream making from Penn State. Cohen's anosmia (lack of a sense of smell) is often cited as the reason the pair leaned on chunky mix-ins and big textures rather than subtle flavor notes. The company's first franchise scoop shop opened in Shelburne, Vermont in 1981, the same year they began pint-packing operations from a renovated mill on South Champlain Street in Burlington. As demand grew, the company built the Waterbury factory in 1985 and opened it for public tours in 1986, a tradition that continues today. The company also started an annual "Free Cone Day" in 1979, a tradition it has kept (with some interruptions) for decades. Ben & Jerry's has operated as a certified B Corporation and, following Unilever's 2000 acquisition of the company, an independent board of directors was created specifically to safeguard the brand's social mission.

The core activity is the roughly 30-minute guided factory tour, which covers the company's history and culture, offers a glassed-in view of the production floor (when production is running), and includes a tasting of a current ice cream flavor plus a "chunk" sample. Beyond the tour, visitors can walk the seasonal Flavor Graveyard, a mock cemetery of retired flavors with tombstone-style markers, browse the gift shop, and buy a cone or cup at the on-site scoop shop. There is also a playground on site for kids. Group tours for 21 or more people require advance email arrangement with the venue.

The main draws are the working production floor (viewed from a mezzanine), the Flavor Graveyard, the gift shop, and the scoop shop. The factory sits within a short drive of other Waterbury food attractions, including Cold Hollow Cider Mill and Cabot's Waterbury store, which many visitors combine with a factory stop into a single "Vermont foodie" day trip.

The factory is just off Interstate 89 in Waterbury, making it an easy stop for anyone driving Vermont's main north-south interstate corridor. It sits about 10 miles south of Stowe and is a common stop between Burlington and central Vermont's ski towns. The site provides its own dedicated visitor parking, including RV, coach and accessible parking at the upper entrance, plus a boardwalk drop-off point; no airport or transit specifics were given in the sourced material.

As of research, summer hours (beginning June 26) run 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the last tour departing at 7 p.m. Hours outside of the summer season were not specified in the sources fetched; confirm current hours on benjerry.com before visiting.

As of research, tour pricing was $6 for adults, $5 for seniors (65+), $1 for children ages 2-12, and free for infants, with service fees applying; a specific street address and any online-only ticket details were not confirmed in the sources fetched. Confirm current pricing on benjerry.com before visiting.

The guided tour itself runs about 30 minutes; with time for the gift shop, scoop shop and Flavor Graveyard, most visitors budget roughly one to one and a half hours for the full stop.

Waterbury and the surrounding Route 100/I-89 corridor have a mix of small inns and chain hotels, and Stowe, about 10 miles north, offers a much larger concentration of lodging from budget motels to upscale ski resorts. No specific hotel names were confirmed in the sources fetched for this destination.

Waterbury has developed a notable local food-and-drink scene, and the sourced material specifically points to Cold Hollow Cider Mill and Cabot's Farmer's Store as nearby stops offering cider, cheese and other Vermont specialty foods; broader restaurant options in downtown Waterbury and in Stowe were not itemized by name in the sources fetched.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill and Cabot's Farmer's Store are both cited as nearby Waterbury attractions that pair naturally with a factory visit. Stowe, about 10 miles north, adds a larger cluster of shopping, dining and mountain-town attractions for visitors extending their day.

The factory is reached primarily by car via Interstate 89; no specific airport distances or public-transit options were confirmed in the sources fetched for this entry.

Because this is a working factory floor visible from a mezzanine, follow posted tour-guide instructions and stay within marked visitor areas. As with any food-production facility, expect standard health and safety rules (e.g., no touching production equipment); no site-specific safety bulletin was found in the sources fetched. For any emergency, dial 911.

Comfortable shoes for walking the tour and grounds, and a light jacket if visiting in cooler shoulder-season weather, are sensible given Vermont's changeable climate. No factory-specific packing list was found in the sources fetched.

Because the tour has a last-departure time (7 p.m. in summer, per research), arrive with enough buffer to join a tour rather than just browsing the grounds. Groups of 21 or more must arrange visits in advance by email with the venue. Combining the stop with nearby Cold Hollow Cider Mill or a run up to Stowe is a popular way to build out a Waterbury-area day.

Dial 911 for any emergency. The factory's general/gift shop phone line, as sourced, is 802-337-1201.

Ben & Jerry's Factory Tours - https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/factory-tours

This section is being updated and will be available shortly.

This section is being updated and will be available shortly.

This section is being updated and will be available shortly.