Ohio —For almost a century and a half, Cincinnati-based Graeter’s ice cream has been serving up smiles and sundaes.

• Graeter’s hand-packs over 20,000 pints of ice cream a day
• They still make ice cream the same way they did in the 1800’s, with the exception of electricity
• The secret to Graeter’s success is not straying too far from home

“Most people don’t realize Graeter’s still makes ice cream the same way they did back in the 1800’s... the only difference is electricity,” said Troy Packham, vice president, Graeter’s. “We use French pot freezers, they’re vertical batch freezers… the way we make it, basically, the ice cream is spinning around and it forces all the air out.  So, our ice cream is very dense and has very little air, so you’re getting a lot more ice cream in every bite of Graeter’s. Because of that fact, we have to use paddles to pull the ice cream out of the pots…but you can eat it right away…but because it’s so dense we can’t use a machine to pack out pints, so we hand-pack over 20 thousand pints a day.”

Troy Packham doesn't actually pack the pints, but he is a vice president and longtime Grater’s employee.

He has worked for the company for 24 years and values its strong family tradition.

“it’s a great company, a lot of great family tradition. Currently the 4th generation of Graeter family members are running the business. I always like to be involved with the best and I feel like Graeter’s is the best and Graeter’s is a great company to work for,” said Packham.

Graeter’s may be rich in flavor, but it’s also rich in history.

“Well, Louis Graeter who’s our original founder, lived in Cincinnati, lived there in 1868, and he started making ice cream in 1870, so we’ve been around…next year we’re gonna be celebrating out 150th anniversary," said Packham.

And a big reason for the company's longevity is Louis Graeter's wife Regina. 

In 1919, Louis was tragically killed in a car accident, leaving Regina a widow with two teenaged sons —and leaving the future of Graeter's in her hands.

During the great depression, a time when women were looked down upon for working outside the home, Regina was a trailblazer —running the family business and expanding it to 20 stores.

And by the 1950’s Graeter’s was a household name in Cincinnati.

Fast forward to 2019…

“We’re in 46 states across the country, so look for your grocery story and you can more than likely find us. We’re in a number or the larger grocery stores throughout the country,” said Packham.

And here in the Midwest you can find them at one of their over 50 locations— from all across the Buckeye State, to Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville. 

But the secret to Graeter's success is not straying too far from home.

“We make ice cream just two-and-a-half gallons at a time, and the way we make our ice cream is just a really labor-intensive way to make the ice cream, and so to get too big…to go nationwide to make the ice cream, is not really an option for us, but we do want to stay close to home, but also let as much people enjoy it as we can,” said Packham.

Packham says being here in Ohio as a company vice president and as someone who’s worked at Graeter's for so many years, allows him to share his Ohio pride. 

“Ohio is home for myself and obviously a lot of people, and the nice thing is being from Ohio… we’re Ohio proud. A lot of publications say that Graeter’s ice cream is the best and it’s nice to have some bragging rights that Ohio has the best ice cream,” said Packham.