Graeter's is a regional
ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...
chain based in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
. Founded in 1870 by Louis C. Graeter, the company has since expanded to 56 retail locations selling ice cream, candy and baked goods in the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
. It further distributes its ice cream to 6,000 stores throughout the country. As of 2017, the company had 1,050 employees and $60 million in revenue.
Graeter, the son of German immigrants, opened the first ice cream shop for the business in 1870 in Cincinnati's
Pendleton neighborhood which quickly gained a following. Growing with the advent of the premium ice cream market in the decades after, the company has been managed by four successive generations of the Graeter family, expanding its retail shops to
Columbus,
Louisville
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
,
Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
,
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
,
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, and other cities. Deals with major supermarket chains including
Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...
have brought Graeter's Ice Cream to more than 6,200 grocery stores nationwide as well.
The ice cream maker is known for its "French pot" process that produces denser than average ice cream. Its national recognition for this ice cream grew over time, in particular after
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
declared it the best ice cream she had ever tasted in 2002. Since then, a number of celebrities and media publications have commented on the ice cream brand's quality.
History
First generation
Graeter's was founded in 1870 by Louis Charles Graeter, who was of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
ancestry, with his wife, Anna. At first, he sold the ice cream at the Court Street Market at the base of Sycamore Hill in Cincinnati's
Pendleton neighborhood. At the time, ice cream was considered a novelty, but the business quickly gained a following in the neighborhood. The business established a storefront on Sycamore Street. By 1883, the business employed three men and had two wagons delivering ice cream. Around that time, though, Louis Graeter stepped away from the business, taking $1,000 and leaving it in debt. His brother, Fred Graeter, maintained the business after Anna left, bringing it out of debt. Louis Graeter spent time in
Stockton, California
Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...
, where he remarried for a time and eventually returned to Cincinnati around 1900. It was around this time that the ice cream business began producing its product in French pots. Louis Graeter married a third time, to Regina Berger, the daughter of a prominent Cincinnati businessman with a strong reputation in the community. Together, Graeter and his new wife set up a home at 967 East McMillan St. in the
Walnut Hills neighborhood, producing and selling ice cream on the bottom floor of the property.
Second generation
Louis Charles died in 1919 at 67 after being hit by a streetcar, and his wife took over the business while continuing to raise their two sons, Wilmer and Paul. It was at this time that she sought to expand the business, growing the size of the McMillan Street location and opening a second location on Walnut Street in
downtown Cincinnati
Downtown Cincinnati is one of the 52 List of Cincinnati neighborhoods, neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the central business district of the city, as well as the economic and symbiotic center of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Original ...
, followed by a third at 2704 Erie Ave. in the
Hyde Park neighborhood. By 1929, the shop had locations in
Norwood,
Madisonville,
Avondale and
Pleasant Ridge as well. In order to support the volume of ice cream being produced, the business in 1937 opened an ice cream and chocolate production plant in a former printing press facility on Reading Road in
Mount Auburn.
While business remained steady through the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the shop faced challenges during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
thanks to the nationwide
rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...
of sugar, as well as lack of available manpower. But the shop grew with the population boom brought about following the war, and it opened new locations in the
Oakley,
East End and
Bond Hill neighborhoods, following suburban sprawl in those areas. Still, it closed other store locations as demographic shifts prompted relocation of business.
Following World War II, and with new manufacturing processes and the proliferation of the
refrigerator
A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...
, Graeter's faced challenges from competitors who could mass-produce ice cream. Among its competitors was
Aglamesis Bro's, another family-owned business opened in Cincinnati, as well as
United Dairy Farmers, which grew quickly. Graeter's and Algamesis Bros., in particular, are routinely considered to be rivals in Cincinnati, though the companies are different in size and the style of ice cream they make is different. The invention of
soft serve
Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert and variety of ice cream, similar to conventional ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the lat ...
also allowed large national chains like
Dairy Queen
International Dairy Queen, Inc. (DQ) is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940 and currently headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first Dairy Queen was owned and operated by Sherb Noble and first opened on June 22, ...
,
Carvel and
Tastee-Freez to grow as well. During this time, the shop began operating a bakery with an increasing variety of goods as an added service, and stopped selling toys and other novelties.
Third generation
Regina Graeter died in 1955. Wilmer bought Paul out of the business, causing some tension within the family. Wilmer's sons, Dick, Lou and Jon were brought in to help with the business. Younger sister Kathy would become highly involved in 1965, though another sister, Carol, never worked for the company beyond childhood. The ice cream business slowly gained traction and local popularity through the 1960s. The shops began selling pints that could be taken home. In this time, it faced particular competition from upscale brands with more flavors of ice cream sold in pints that could be taken home, including
Baskin-Robbins
Baskin-Robbins, Inc. is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake specialty store, specialty shops owned by Inspire Brands. Baskin-Robbins was formed in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California.[Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in the Bronx, New York, in 1960, owned by Froneri, a joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolat ...]
and
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...
. Still, the company maintained a strong following in Cincinnati in the 1970s and 1980s that prevented these brands from making as strong a retail presence in Cincinnati.
Graeter's first began selling pints of ice cream to stores in the 1970s, most notably a shop in
Washington Market Park in the
TriBeCa
Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...
neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, though pints there sold for $8.85, compared to $2.50 at Graeter's own Cincinnati stores. In 1987, a deal with
Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...
allowed Graeter's to sell its ice cream inside the supermarket chain. Eventually, its distribution grew to over 2,000 Kroger stores. Graeter's has been marketed in some of Kroger's other brands as well, notably including
King Soopers in Colorado. With these deals it has sought to build a national brand awareness and can now be bought in retail stores in 48 states. In some cases this has been successful, such as in
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
where, after a few weeks after introducing 12 flavors, the company was selling 5 gallons of ice cream a week.
Still, the business saw limited growth in the 1980s, primarily because of the popularity of
frozen yogurt
Frozen yogurt (also known as frogurt or by the tradename Froyo; ) is a frozen dessert made with yogurt and sometimes other dairy and non-dairy products. Frozen yogurt is a frozen product containing the same basic ingredients as ice cream, but c ...
, in chains like
TCBY
TCBY (The Country's Best Yogurt) is an American chain of frozen yogurt stores. It is one of the largest U.S. retailers of soft-serve frozen yogurt.
History
In 1981, Frank D. Hickingbotham opened the first TCBY in Little Rock, Arkansas. TCBY ...
, brought an appeal for healthier frozen desserts. In this time it also invested in new equipment as well, first testing equipment from Cincinnati-based Alvey Washing Equipment before trying equipment created by Italian company
Carpigiani, but eventually opted to bring its "French Pot" production in-house, though it did not
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
the equipment.
Fourth generation
By 1989, the company produced 100,000 gallons of ice cream annually and generated $5 million a year in revenue. Jon Graeter retired from the business after an accident that year, and Kathy was brought into the business, as were Bob, Chip and Rich Graeter, sons of Lou and Dick respectively and the fourth generation of the family in the business. Wilmer died in 1991. However, undertaking
succession planning
Succession planning is a process and strategy for replacement planning or passing on leadership roles. It is used to identify and develop new, potential leaders who can move into leadership roles when they become vacant. Succession planning in ...
with the help of
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
experts, the business wasn't fully transferred to the fourth generation for over a decade. Graeter's built a $2 million expansion onto its Reading Road production facility that doubled the building in size to in 1994, borrowing $1 million in the process but adding production space for ice cream, candy and more storage. After 1994, the chain began shipping pints of ice cream outside of its store footprint as well, using
dry ice
Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and Sublimation (phase transition), sublimes directly from the solid state to the gas ...
-packed containers via
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...
, which allowed it to ship anywhere in the United States. By 2010 this was generating $3 million a year in business, with the largest number of shipments being made to California. The business incrementally began allowing its ice cream to be sold in restaurants in country clubs as well.
Once the fourth generation took the business full-time at the end of 2003, it subsequently undertook a rebranding process rolling out a new logo designed by
Libby, Perszyk, Kathman Inc., stronger marketing and a more cohesive strategic direction. They also began to substantially increase production with the new plant, growing from 100,000 gallons a year in 1989 to 200,000 gallons in 2004. Design Forum, a retail design firm, handled updates to Graeter's shops.
The plant expansion increased capacity over 40 percent after 2004, allowing it to grow its wholesale business. With these tools, its leaders and franchise owners reported business was not significantly impacted by the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. in 2008 or 2009. At the time it was doing about $20 million a year in sales.
In 2009 the company announced plans to build a new plant in the
Bond Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati to allow it to continue to grow production. The company bought the land for a marginal number, borrowed $10 million from the city with interest rates to be repaid over 20 years, receiving $3.3 million in incentives and providing $10 million in bonds to cover the cost. This, as Graeter's announced it, planned to distribute its ice creams outside of the Cincinnati market and to supermarkets in other cities, including
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
,
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, and
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. This expanded its production to 300,000 gallons of ice cream a year, with equipment to expand its capacity to 1.5 million gallons a year. It also features a shrink-wrap facility to allow it to package ice cream to ship faster. By 2010, it had grown to a $35 million business between company owned and franchise locations. Additional technology investments have allowed it to better track its sales and performance of different products and business units. This has also informed a seasonal hiring strategy for the company as it on-boards additional staff for busier seasons. Around this time, it began a more aggressive campaign to grow distribution of its pints into more large U.S. cities outside of the Midwest and grow its national profile.
By 2017, the company was distributing its pints of ice cream in about 6,000 grocery stores, heavily concentrated in Kroger stores, in addition to upscale restaurants and country clubs. The company also began partnering with other local food companies, most notably Braxton Brewing Co., a
microbrewery
Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
in
Covington, Kentucky
Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers, across from Cincinnati to the north ...
, to make a Black Raspberry Chip
milk stout
Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale.
The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the Ege ...
, a
craft beer
Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
based on its signature ice cream flavor. This partnership was successful enough that the next year, the two companies collaborated on a pumpkin ale that hearkened to Graeter's seasonal fall ice cream flavor.
In 2018, Graeter's consolidated its company headquarters into a 7,000-square-foot office at 2245 Gilbert Ave. in Walnut Hills, bringing all retail, marketing and creative, production, accounting and finance employees under one roof. That year, it also finalized a deal to purchase 11 stores in Louisville, Lexington and Indianapolis from its last major franchisee, Jim Tedesco of Tedesco LLC, bringing all of its over 50 retail locations under company management.
Products
"French pot process"
Louis Graeter initially stirred the ice cream by hand in a metal pail in a wooden bucket filled with ice and salt, a painstaking and expensive process owing to the rarity of ice and salt at the time. This required it to be eaten almost immediately. Eventually, though, the business developed what it later called the "French pot process," developing a hand-made, cylindrical metal bowl that sat inside a wooden bowl filled with ice and salt. This pot would then be filled with a mixture of cream, sugar and eggs. The pot would then be attached to a motor and spun, forcing the mixture to the sides of the bowl where it would freeze, being scraped off by paddle until it came together. The ice cream must be made in small batches of at a time, then hand-packed into cartons. This results in an ice cream that is more dense and contains 20 to 25 percent air mixed in during the freezing process, as opposed to other styles where 50 percent air is mixed in. Consequently, a pint of Graeter's ice cream weighs , and can be almost twice the weight of other styles. With 14 percent milk fat and high-quality ingredients, the ice cream falls in the "superpremium" segment of the ice cream market.
Graeter's ice cream is made using the French pot method. All their ice creams are created from an
egg custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency from ...
base. After
pasteurization
In food processing, pasteurization (American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), also pasteurisation) is a process of food preservation in which packaged foods (e.g., milk and fruit juices) are treated wi ...
, the flavorings are added. The custard and flavoring mixture is placed into two-gallon French pots. The pots are then spun in saltwater, while a blade scrapes the cream that freezes against the sides of the pot. After 15–20 minutes of immersion in the saltwater, any larger additives are mixed in, such as cookie dough or chocolate chips. Ice cream is hand-scooped into pint containers. Graeter's makes each day.
Thus the shop markets that its ice cream is still made by hand.
Ice cream flavors
Initially, the shop offered only vanilla and chocolate flavors in a dish or a cone. It began offering seasonal
strawberry
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...
,
lemon
The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
and
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...
flavors when the fruits were in season, expanding them to year-round flavors thanks to cold storage capabilities. Graeter's considers eight flavors, including black cherry,
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
, strawberry,
butter pecan
Butter pecan is a flavor, prominent especially in the southern United States, in ice cream, cakes, and cookies. The flavor is an element of soul food, the cuisine of Black Americans.
Roasted pecans, butter, and vanilla flavor are used in but ...
, and several
sorbet
Sorbet (, ) is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, or other ingredients, such as wine, liqueur, or honey.
Sorbet does not contain dairy products. Sherbet is similar to sorbet, but contains dairy.
Etymolog ...
flavors, as its original menu.
Graeter's sources its dairy products from nearby
Louis Trauth Dairy and
Smith Dairy, and later made both of them distributors of its ice cream. It has retained its recipe of cream, sugar, eggs and flavorings, and has avoided changing the recipe during health trends or amid competition from healthier frozen treat brands, or those using
artificial sweeteners
A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Arti ...
. Though it is gravitated to more all-natural ingredients in recent years, including substituting beet juice instead of food dye and sourcing dairy products from hormone-free cows. There are some exceptions, such as vanilla that is imported from Madagascar. It has continued to out-sell Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs ice cream at Kroger locations in the Cincinnati market, making the city the only place in the country where those brands are not top sellers in the supermarket.
Instead of adding
chocolate chips to the ice cream, Graeter's devised a technique to add melted chocolate mixed with a small amount of
vegetable oil
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...
near the end of the stirring process, which results in chocolate chunks of different sizes. According to the company's recollections, this technique was created when a young Wilmer Graeter stole chocolate and poured it into a pot of ice cream. For a time, it also molded ice cream into different shapes to serve. These chocolate chips were incorporated into a number of flavors to great success, and by 2010 chocolate chip ice cream flavors accounted for 70 percent of its sales. A bittersweet
Hershey Hershey may refer to:
People
* Hershey (name), a list of people with the surname, given name or nickname
Places
* Hershey, Nebraska, a village
* Hershey, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community, home to the chocolate company
* Hershey, Cuba ...
-based fudge sauce was created before World War II for use in
sundaes
A sundae (Sunday Ice) () is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with a sweet sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, chocol ...
, and the company later shifted to using a chocolate from a
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...
spinoff company. It added
parfait
Parfait ( , , ; meaning "perfect") is either of two types of dessert. In France, where the dish originated, parfait is made by boiling cream, egg, sugar and syrup to create a custard-like or meringue-like puree which is then frozen. The Amer ...
s,
milkshake
A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may ...
s and sodas as well over time. Later, it also introduced
gelato
Gelato (; ; ) refers to a specific type of ice cream of Italian origin. In Italian, ''Gelato'' is the common word for all types of ice cream. Artisanal gelato in Italy generally contains 6–9% butterfat, which is lower than other styles of ...
,
sorbet
Sorbet (, ) is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, or other ingredients, such as wine, liqueur, or honey.
Sorbet does not contain dairy products. Sherbet is similar to sorbet, but contains dairy.
Etymolog ...
, and low-
glycemic
The glycemic response (or glycaemic response) to a food or meal is the effect that food or meal has on blood sugar (glucose) levels after consumption.Sadler M. Food, Glycaemic Response and Health. ILSI Europe Concise Monograph Series 2011:1-30Av ...
desserts. Dick Graeter first created a
Black Raspberry
Black raspberry is a common name for three species of the genus ''Rubus'':
*''Rubus leucodermis'', native to western North America
*''Rubus occidentalis
''Rubus occidentalis'' is a species of ''Rubus'' native to eastern North America. I ...
flavor, and around the 1970s began adding chocolate chips. For a time it sold both varieties but discontinued the first version after the second was more successful. This flavor has since become the best-selling flavor in the chain, accounting for 20 percent of its overall sales by 2010. He also launched a program for seasonal flavors of ice cream, notably beginning with a
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
variety in January, cherry chocolate chip in February, chocolate almond in March and so on. After a time, it instead offered "seasonal" flavors for up to three months at a time, with favorites including strawberry chocolate chip in the springtime, or peppermint or eggnog around the end of the wintertime.
Candy and baked goods
Louis Graeter also sold chocolate confections from early in its history. The company initially tried to use Hershey chocolate for candy, but due to a lack of availability during World War II it shifted to using chocolate Nestlé spinoff company Mr. Peter's. Among its confections was the
opera cream, a variety of cream filled chocolate candy popular in Cincinnati. Today, its chocolates and confections are produced at the Bond Hill plant. Steve Hellmich was hired in 2001 to oversee this operation. For the Easter holiday, the shot offers a "build your own basket" with
chocolate bunny,
cream eggs,
jelly beans and opera creams. During Easter it also offers a "birds nest" made from chocolate and a mixture of rice and coconut flakes.
A bakery business was launched in 1957, and added and expanded in the 1960s and 1970s, initially to make pies and cakes, but demand for other kinds of goods including rolls,
coffee cake Coffee cake can refer to:
* Coffee cake (American), a sweet bread typically served with coffee but not typically made with coffee as an ingredient or flavoring
* Coffee-flavored cake, such as coffee and walnut cake
See also
* Tea cake
* Tea ...
,
Danish pastry
A Danish pastry (sometimes shortened to danish; , ) is a multilayered, laminated sweet pastry in the '' viennoiserie'' tradition. Like other ''viennoiserie'' pastries, such as croissants, it is a variant of puff pastry made of laminated yeast- ...
, donuts, bread, cupcakes,
éclair
An éclair ( or , ; ) is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with a flavored icing. The dough, which is the same as that used for profiteroles, is typically piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked ...
s, cookies,
cream horn
A cream horn is a pastry made with Flaky pastry, flaky or puff pastry, and whipped cream. (An alternative version, the meringue horn, is made with meringue.)
The horn shape is made by winding overlapping pastry strips around a conical thin sheet ...
s and
turnovers. Later,
ice cream cake
''Ice Cream Cake'' is the debut Korean extended play by the South Korean girl group Red Velvet. It was released digitally on March 17, 2015, and physically on March 18 by SM Entertainment and distributed by Dreamus, marking the group's first p ...
s and
ice cream sandwiches grew popular as well. Though, the company's bakery business has not traditionally performed as well as its ice cream, and at times it found the bakery portion of the business losing money. Members of the Graeter family have considered ceasing the business but never came to a conclusive decision.
Novelties
Under Louis Graeter, a number of other items were initially sold at the store, including ceramics, candy cases, toys and other novelties, primarily to turn a profit in the winter when ice cream sales were slow. When Regina Graeter died in 1955, the company's next generation stopped selling novelty items in a bid to focus more on ice cream, baked goods and chocolates.
Ice cream shops
Graeter's maintained one location on McMillan Street until 1919, when Regina Graeter took control of the business and sought to expand it from a neighborhood shop. By 1929 it had six locations. The original East McMillan Street location where the Graeter family sold its ice cream remained open until 1972, before the property was sold two years later.
In the 1980s, the business also began
franchising
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busines ...
and through a franchisee opened its first
Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky is an urban area in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky consisting of the southern part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The three main counties of the area are Boone County, Kentucky, Boone, Kent ...
locations in 1984. In 1989, another franchisee opened another location in
Columbus and, eventually, the same franchise was able to add locations in
Dayton
Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
, as well, with this franchise eventually growing to 15 stores and managing its own ice cream production in a Columbus store by 2000. Another franchisee opened a location in
Louisville
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
in 1998 after lobbying unsuccessfully to expand the ice cream business into
Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, with that franchisee growing to eight Kentucky locations by 2010. By 2010 it had 45 locations across all of these markets. In 2010, the company bought back the Columbus and Dayton franchise, giving it direct control of all Ohio stores. At the time, it said it did not have plans to add additional franchisees. Graeter family members also said they intended to keep it a family business, resisting offers to sell the company to a larger brand. The 2017 acquisition of the Louisville franchise eliminated the final non-family owned footprint of the ice cream chain.
In 2018, a location opened in
Cincinnati Union Terminal
Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate, Cincinnati, Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Commonly abbreviated as CUT, or by its Amtrak station code, CIN, the Railroad terminal, termin ...
, in the former Rookwood tea room.
About 60 percent of the company's $35 million in business in 2010 came from its retail operations, with grocery store sales accounting for 20 percent and shipping another 20 percent. With projected expansion into new markets, though, the company predicted at the time its shipping business could grow to 40 percent of its overall revenue mix.
The company then began expanding its presence online as well, including becoming active on
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
. Its
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page grew to 55,000 fans by 2010. This grew to 170,000 by 2017, aided by additional social media campaigns on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
and
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
. The company employs a social media manager and built a marketing strategy of engaging with fans online. Otherwise, the company does not invest heavily in traditional marketing campaigns, particularly in its traditional home markets, though does some advertising when it introduces new or seasonal flavors.
Loyalty program
A loyalty program or rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program.
Single-company vs. coalition programs
Loyalty progr ...
s and
direct mailing campaigns have been introduced over the years as well.
Reception
In 2004,
''Cincinnati'' magazine named the black raspberry chip flavor one of the foods that "defines" the city of Cincinnati, alongside Virginia Bakery Schnecken, Trauth Dairy and Kroger products. The shop is also the official ice cream of the
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...
.
The ice cream has attracted praise from national food writers and tastemakers, as well.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
praised the ice cream in a 2002 edition of
''O'' and also talked about it on her ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...
'', and the next day the business shipped 400 boxes of ice cream all over the country, 10 times the average.
In 2005, food writer
David Rosengarten of
''Gourmet'' magazine named Graeter's the best ice cream in his newsletter, after getting numerous letters of support for the business. In 2006, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' writer
Christopher Buckley also declared black raspberry chip the best ice cream.
''Vanity Fair'' recommended it as a holiday gift in 2005, calling it "one of the best homemade-ice-cream companies in the country. ''
Saveur
''Saveur'' is an online gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that publishes essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews. It was started ...
'' praised Graeter's twice amid a roundup of ice cream shops around the country, while
''Chicago'' magazine termed it an essential experience when visiting Cincinnati.
The chain also counts
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. In a career spanning over five decades, she has performed across several productions of both Sarah Jessica Parker filmography, screen and stage. List o ...
,
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...
,
Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott Lachey ( ; born November 9, 1973) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, producer, TV personality and host. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling boyband 98 Degrees and later starred in the reality ser ...
,
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Costner, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primeti ...
,
Ashley Judd
Ashley Tyler Ciminella, known professionally as Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968), is an American actress and activist. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country ...
and
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...
as customers.
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccin ...
, a family friend, served as celebrity spokesperson for the company for a time. Ben & Jerry's co-founder
Ben Cohen professed Graeter's was one of his favorite ice cream shops as well. Other notable fans of the company include singer
Harry Connick Jr
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and former television host. As of 2019, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 List of best-sel ...
, and food writer
David Rosengarten of Rosengarten Report.
Graeter's ice cream won "Best Sweet" at the 2014
Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival
The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is an annual four-day event in Miami, typically in mid-February. The event showcases wine, spirits, chefs, and culinary personalities. The four-day event consists of dinners, wine seminars, tasting ...
.
Graeter's has been featured on shows on the
Travel Channel
Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...
,
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
,
Fine Living Channel, and
History Channel
History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...
.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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{{coord, 39, 11, 19, N, 84, 28, 45, W, type:landmark_region:US-OH, display=title
Restaurants in Cincinnati
Companies based in Cincinnati
Ice cream parlors in the United States
Restaurants established in 1870
Ice cream brands
1870 establishments in Ohio