8 Ways to Explore the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, Vermont

| | | | |

Started in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream has become one of the most popular ice cream brands in the world, now with over 500 Scoop Shops worldwide (more than 200 in the United States alone!) and almost 100 varieties of ice cream.

Ben and Jerry’s has three factories which produce their famous ice cream: two in Vermont (Waterbury and St. Albine’s) which distribute ice cream throughout the United States, and one factory in Hellendoorn in Holland, which distributes ice cream throughout Europe. The first factory opened in Waterbury in 1985 and guided tours began in 1986. The Waterbury Factory, the only factory open to the public, produces 300,000-400,000 pints a day and welcomes close to a quarter million people each year (up to 800 people on a busy summer day!). Even cooler?  Every employee is allowed to take home 3 pints a DAY! 

Ben & Jerry's sign

Travel Tips:

  • Tours are offered Tuesday through Saturday, every 15 minutes- see updated information on hours and fees here. Tours are handicap accessible.
  • We strongly recommend booking a tour ahead of time (they do frequently sell out!) and getting to the factory about 30 minutes beforehand to grab an ice cream from the Scoop Shop to enjoy while exploring the Graveyard and playground and then head to your tour. 
  • There is plenty of free parking to the left of the factory. There are picnic tables and places to sit and picnic outside of the factory.
  • Restrooms are located in a separate building in front of the factory.
  • There is a gift shop located near the factory tour entrance, which sells a wide variety of apparel and souvenirs.
  • Kids will want to spend time at the playground located up the (small) hill from the parking lot and in front of the Graveyard.
  • Plan on 30 minutes for the tour and another 30 minutes to explore the Graveyard, playground, and gift shop.

8 Ways to Explore the Ben & Jerry’s Factory:

  1. Guess the top ten most popular flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
  2. Check out the six 5,500 gallon tanks of  base mix for the ice cream.
  3. Start the factory tour in the Moo-vie Theater with a seven minute video about the history of the company throughout the decades. 
  4. Peer down onto the production floor and learn the ten steps to making ice cream, including blending, pasteurizing, homogenizing, flavoring, freeing, stamping, bundling, and palletizing.  

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.

  1. Sample a special flavor of ice cream in the Flavor Lab, which was the original Test Kitchen. On the day we visited, it was Churray for Churros. 
  2. Get a special treat from the Scoop Shop, which has several Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors and specials like milkshakes and sundaes. 
  3. Shop in the retail shop, which has a wide variety of themed apparel and gifts. 
  4. Walk the Graveyard of Flavors and see the “graves” of flavors that were once in production. The graveyard is located up the hill to the left of the factory (behind the parking lot). 

Looking for other nearby fun? Check out our posts featuring the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, the ECHO Leahy Center, the Vermont State House, our full Burlington City Guide and our feature of the Smugglers’ Notch Resort. And follow along on our adventures on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

Ben and Jerry's photo opt at the Waterbury VT factory

Disclaimer: We were given a media pass for the factory tour; all opinions expressed are my own.

New England based, part high school English teacher, part non profit founder, part road tripper who LOVES hopping in the family SUV to explore America. Our bucket list includes National Parks, MLB stadiums, presidential libraries, and eating wherever the locals eat!

Similar Posts

  • | | | | |

    Touring the Met Opera House in New York City

    On a recent trip to New York City, we enjoyed a tour of the largest opera house in the world, the Metropolitan Opera House. Now part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Opera was founded in 1883 and the first opera house was located at Broadway and 39th Street. As the Met Opera grew in popularity, it needed more space and joined other organizations to form The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a 16.3 acre complex on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Lincoln Center first opened in 1962 with the New York Philharmonic, adding the New York City Ballet in 1964 (in the Koch Theater) and then the inauguration of the Opera House in 1966. Across the complex, Lincoln Center is home to 30 indoor and outdoor facilities, including water features and a grassy hill across from the Juilliard School.

  • | | |

    Where to Stay inside Glacier National Park in Montana

    We just returned from an epic trip out west and enjoyed almost a full week at Glacier National Park in western Montana, one of our most favorite parks to date. Glacier National Park, one of the most popular American National Parks with close to three million visitors each year, covers over a million acres across 1,500 square miles (with over 750 miles of marked hiking trails!) There are over 750 lakes inside Glacier National Park (about 130 of them are named), many of which are glacier fed (which gives the lake water the appearance of the vibrant turquoise color in some of our photos). In 2024, there remain approximately 26 glaciers, but each year that number shrinks as the glaciers melt. 

  • | | | | |

    Bryant Park, New York City

    My family is fortunate enough to live a short train ride away from New York City, and we frequently take advantage of this opportunity. We enjoy visiting Bryant Park, a quick walk from Grand Central Terminal. There are literally dozens of things to do in the nine acre park, located between 5th and 6th Avenues and 42 and 44th Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Here are some of my seasonal favorites:

  • | | | |

    Museum of Illusions and Little Island in New York City

    This weekend, we FINALLY made it back into New York City for the first time in 16 months! We’re lucky enough to be able to drive 65 minutes and end up in the heart of Manhattan, or, in this case, the Chelsea/ Meat Packing District west side of the island. We’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about some outdoor experiences, including Little Island which just opened last month, and wanted to check them out. When we saw that the Museum of Illusions was less than a half mile walk from Little Island, we had our morning set.

  • | | |

    10 Tips for Visiting Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida

    We recently visited Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for the first time. We visited during the holiday break in December, which is the busiest week of the whole year. We knew that ahead of time but, boy, was it packed! The staff did a good job of keeping people moving and safe. It also rained on and off all day. So, not ideal conditions for visiting a major (and expensive!) amusement park, but we still had fun. We also learned a lot.

  • | | | |

    Playing “I Spy” at the Connecticut State Capitol

    Visiting state capitol buildings is one of the first things we do when visiting the capital city. It’s a little ironic that it took our family, who has lived in Connecticut for almost 20 years, this long, but we recently, finally made it to the CT Capitol for a tour.

    Connecticut was founded in 1662 and is known as the Constitution State, as it was the first state to adopt a constitution.  Built in 1878, the Connecticut Capitol building, located in downtown Hartford, was designed by Richard M. Upjohn to replicate a Victorian Gothic style. The building overlooks Bushnell Memorial Park’s 41 acres in the heart of Hartford and was restored in the 1980s to the original colors and design. The addition of the Legislative Office Building (LOB), which opened in 1988, allowed for office space for Connecticut’s 151 Representatives (each representing approximately 25,000 constituents)  and 36 State Senators (each representing approximately 90,000-100,000 constituents). The “LOB” also allows for more public meeting spaces and opportunities for state officials to meet as committees and with public interest groups. The first and second floors of the LOB and the first floor of the Capitol are both open to the public; upper level floors house private offices and chambers and guests must be accompanied by officials. 

13 Comments

  1. The numbers are amazing – the amount made and sold each day, the amount given to each employee each day, I’d love to know the flavors on the graveyard. It’s a must stop next time we go to Vermont.👍

    Reply

  4. I’ve been researching a road trip to Vermount from Canada and I read about Ben and Jerry’sl Good to know that it’s best to book a tour, as I saw this in my resort and I want to do it. Thanks for the heads up!

    Reply

  5. Love the flavor graveyard – what a neat idea. The Ben and Jerry’s factory tour sounds like such a fun place to explore -especially with the kiddos! I had no idea that you could take a tour. I would love to if I ever find myself in Vermont one day!

    Reply

  8. This looks soooo fun! Lol I love that they have a graveyard with ex-flavours! Also 5,500 gallon tanks!? I guess it makes sense that they mix it in large quantities but woooah!

    Reply

  9. We could not possibly turn down chance to do a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. And would plan to book in advance since I would not have expected the tours to sell out. Would be interesting to try both the new flavours and see the ones that are no longer available. Good thing chocolate and caramel never go out of taste.

    Reply

  10. I’ve always wanted to do this! Seems like such a cool experience and you’ve definitely persuaded me! Sending this to my husband for a getaway hint haha

    Reply

  11. This tour looks so fun! My husband went as a kid, but I have yet to go. We hope to make a trip to Vermont soon, and the Ben & Jerry’s Factory will be on the itinerary.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *