Whitey's Ice Cream is an ice-cream parlor chain based in

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline, Illinois, East M ...

. This

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

has been an icon of the Illinois and Iowa

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

since it was founded in 1933.

History

Chester Lindgren opened the first store on the corner of 16th Street and 23rd Avenue in

. He was nicknamed "Whitey" due to his white-blonde colored hair. In 1935 Lindgren hired 15-year-old Bob Tunberg, who worked for him throughout high school and several years after. In 1953 Lindgren sold the store to Tunberg. Tunberg and his wife, Norma, made ice cream during the day, and sold their product in the store at night. In 1979 the business was expanded when a second store opened in

. After the success of this second store, as well as the addition of several more Illinois stores, the first Iowa store was opened in 1984 in

Bettendorf, Iowa Bettendorf is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. It is the 15th largest city of Iowa and the third-largest city in the "Quad Cities". It is part of the Davenport– Moline– Rock Island, IA- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The popu ...

Present

Whitey's Ice Cream is currently owned by Bob Tunberg's sons, Jeff and Jon Tunberg. They work side by side as co-owners of the company, and the title, president, remains open in honor of their late father, “The Quad-Cities Favorite Ice Cream Man”, who died in 1991. They currently operate nine locations in the Iowa and Illinois

. They also maintain a retail stand at the

TaxSlayer Center The Vibrant Arena at The MARK, formerly known as The MARK of the Quad Cities, the iWireless Center, and the TaxSlayer Center is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in Moline, Illinois. The facility opened in May 1993, under the name The MA ...

and

Modern Woodmen Park Modern Woodmen Park (known previously as John O'Donnell Stadium and Municipal Stadium) is a minor league baseball venue located in Davenport, Iowa. It is home to the Quad Cities River Bandits, the Midwest League affiliate of the Kansas City Roya ...

during sporting events. Customers may also order the ice cream from Whitey's website, where it can be shipped anywhere in the continental United States. In 1988, Whitey’s Ice Cream saw a dramatic change with the addition of a Wholesale Department and entrance into the grocery store market. This allowed Whitey’s Ice Cream packaged ice cream to be purchased from many more outlets. The Wholesale Department currently distributes to grocery stores and schools in a 100-mile radius of the

, although, it can be purchased at

Hy-Vee Hy-Vee, Inc. () is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and soon Indiana, Kentucky, ...

's as far away as

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

, which is approximately 362 miles away from the distribution center in Moline. It is also purchasable at Hy-Vee's in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

in addition to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

stores. Stores carrying Whitey’s Ice Cream include,

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's Cl ...

, Super Target, Jewel,

Fareway Fareway Stores, Inc. is a Midwest grocery store chain based in Boone, Iowa. It operates 131 grocery store locations in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region o ...

, SuperValu and Econo Foods. Sometime in the late-2010s to early 2020s, the Whitey's store located within Coral Ridge Mall in

Coralville, Iowa Coralville is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is a suburb of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and part of the Iowa City metropolitan area, Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,318 at the 2 ...

closed down, marking the chain's exit from the

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

\Coralville area. The chain also had another store in that same area that closed down sometime in the early-mid 2010s.

Innovations

Whitey's Ice Cream is known for their extra thick shakes and malts, which can be held upside down. This is due to their innovation of high-powered malt machines and careful preparation by trained Whitey's employees. They also credit themselves with the creation of candy bar shakes and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. They also worked to develop a "No Sugar Added" ice cream sweetened with

Splenda Splenda is a global brand of sugar substitutes and reduced-calorie food products. While the company is known for its original formulation containing sucralose, it also manufactures items using natural sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit and ...

brand sweetener targeted toward diabetics. One of Whitey’s newest flavors is Sgt. Camo, which is a camouflage-colored ice cream made from Graham cracker, marshmallow ice cream, and a ribbon of Whitey’s fudge. All profits from the sale of Sgt. Camo are donated to various military veterans groups. Sgt. Camo has been sent to the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

, and also to military and their families before troops are deployed to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Reception

Whitey's Ice Cream has been called the "Best in the Midwest" by readers of the Midwest Living Magazine. It has also been featured on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

's ''Food Finds'' television show. In 2007 Whitey's Ice Cream was announced as the winner of the Fourth Annual Ice Cream Store of the Year Award known as ''THE PASSION AWARD'' given by the Ice Cream University. Whiteys was also voted number one ice cream in the nation by Travel Magazine in September 2014.

References

External links

Whitey's Ice CreamWhitey's Ice Cream Sgt. Camo
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716045859/http://www.sgtcamoicecream.com/about/ , date=2011-07-16 Ice cream parlors in the United States Companies based in the Quad Cities Moline, Illinois Ice cream brands Companies based in Rock Island County, Illinois