Just like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, tours of Laurel’s under-the-radar ice cream factory are few and far between.
“It’s kind of tucked away in a corner,” said Pete LaPort, director and factory manager of the Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream facility in Howard County. “We’re not open to the public, but local folks will drive up and ask for tours. We tell them we are a fully operational site.”
But the ice cream company, which makes Edy’s, Nestle and Haagen-Dazs ice cream among others, will open its doors today to state and county officials for the official unveiling of its $210 million expansion.
Dreyer’s added nearly 600,000 square feet of additional space to the factory, bringing the entire facility to 705,000 square feet — or the size or more than 14 football fields — and making the Laurel location one of the largest ice cream factories in the world.
Nearly 58 million gallons of ice cream will be manufactured there per year, including — for the first time — Haagen Dazs products, as well as Edy’s new Slow Churned Light ice cream brand and the Edy’s bite-sized ice cream snacks, Dibs.
The expansion added 450 new jobs to Maryland, including 160 from Prince George’s County, and the company plans to hire 240 more employees in the next two years, company officials said.
The ice cream factory has been a Laurel staple for 40 years, but about 10 years ago Nestle bought the plant and refurbished it. In 2002, Dreyer’s and Nestle merged and expanded the facility. This latest expansion, which will continue through the spring and summer with about $35 million more in facility investments, puts Laurel ahead of Dreyer’s California plant in size.
