Ben and Jerry's Factory
1281 Waterbury-Stowe Rd
Waterbury, VT
A guided walk through the ice cream production floor, a hillside cemetery of discontinued flavors, and a scoop shop, at the factory that turned a Vermont gas station into a global brand.
In 1978, two childhood friends named Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took a five-dollar correspondence course in ice cream making and opened a scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington. The company they built became one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and this factory in Waterbury, opened in 1985, is where the pints are made and where the public comes to see it.
The tour is deliberately modest and cheerful: a short film, a glass-walled view of the production floor, and a taste at the end. What has made it a genuine pilgrimage is everything around it, above all a hillside graveyard where discontinued flavors are laid to rest under real headstones.
What Guests Love
- Watching pints move down the line on the production-floor tour
- Paying respects at the Flavor Graveyard of retired flavors, each with a headstone and epitaph
- A sample of the day's flavor at the end of the tour
- The scoop shop and the photogenic view across the Green Mountains
Worth Knowing
- The production line usually does not run on weekends and holidays, so a weekday visit is more likely to show ice cream actually being made
- Tours are short, guided, and run frequently; buy timed tickets, especially in summer and foliage season
- The Flavor Graveyard is free to wander even without a tour
- It is one of Vermont's most popular attractions, so expect crowds on summer afternoons
Details
Waterbury, VT
Learn about Ben and Jerry's Factory
From a gas station to a movement
Ben and Jerry's grew up alongside a particular idea: that a business could chase both flavor and conscience. The company became known for sourcing, for causes printed on its pints, and for a playful streak that named flavors after musicians and jokes. That mix of dessert and activism is woven through the tour and the signage.
The founders sold the company to the multinational Unilever in 2000, with an unusual arrangement meant to protect its social mission and independent board. The brand's activist voice, and the occasional public friction that comes with it, has continued to make news well beyond the ice cream aisle.
The Flavor Graveyard
Up the grassy hill behind the factory sits the Flavor Graveyard, a real little cemetery of granite-look headstones marking flavors that did not survive. Each grave carries the flavor's name, the years it was sold, and a short comic epitaph mourning its passing.
It is equal parts marketing and genuine folk humor, and it has become the most beloved part of a visit. Fans lobby to bring certain dear-departed flavors back to life, and a few have actually risen from the dead over the years.
How the tour works
The guided tour begins with a short film on the company's origins, moves to a mezzanine overlooking the production floor where pints are filled and packed, and ends in the FlavoRoom with a taste of whatever is being made that day. It is family-friendly and quick, well suited to travelers passing between the highway and Stowe.
Because the line runs on a manufacturing schedule, weekdays give the best odds of seeing ice cream actually in production. On a weekend you will still get the film, the view, and the sample, just fewer moving pints.
Season by season
Summer is peak season, when the parking lot fills and the scoop line runs long, and foliage season in early October is nearly as busy given the factory's spot on the road to Stowe.
Winter quiets things down and pairs naturally with a ski trip up the valley. The factory runs year-round, so a cone in the snow is very much on the table.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Waterbury
Waterbury village
About 2 miles, a 5 minute drive
A revived mill town with a strong food-and-drink scene, cideries, breweries, and a walkable main street.
Stowe
About 10 miles, a 20 minute drive
Vermont's classic mountain resort village below Mount Mansfield, with skiing, the Trapp Family Lodge, and a scenic auto toll road.
Little River State Park
About 6 miles, a 12 minute drive
A reservoir park with swimming and paddling, and trails past the ruins of an abandoned hill-farm community.