Whitey’s Ice Cream says innovative ice cream flavors have drawn celebrities and regular customers alike.

Another regular, famous customer was Rodney Dangerfield, who discovered Whitey’s ice cream made with Splenda while he was on the Atkins diet. Also, Washington Redskins right tackle Jon Jansen buys Whitey’s ice cream for the whole team during preseason, Tunberg notes. “His wife saw us on the Food Network and ordered some for him because she knew how much he liked ice cream,” he says. “He’s bought it for the team ever since.”

Favorite Flavors
Whitey’s popularity might seem surprising since the company has only 12 stores, all in Illinois and Iowa. Tunberg says people remember the store because of the clean and friendly environment, knowledgeable and friendly staff, and quality product. “Also, we are not foolish enough to think it’s all ours,” he says. “We give credit to the Lord.”

Customers enjoy Whitey’s because of its innovative flavors. In 1969, it was the first company to add candy bars, such as Butterfingers and Snickers, to its milkshakes, and in 1985, it was the first to offer chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Ben and Jerry’s introduced that flavor a year after Whitey’s began offering it, Tunberg says.

Tunberg, his brother and co-owner Jon Tunberg and plant manager Gary Neer, are responsible for coming up with new flavors. Jeff Tunberg says they attend the semi-annual International Dairy Foods Association World Food Expo in Chicago to learn about new ingredients. The company used to hold a “Create-a-Flavor” contest, in which the winning customer received a year’s worth of ice cream.  The contest will be re-established for the company’s 75th anniversary next year.

Whitey’s newest ice cream flavors are Cake Batter Fudge ice cream; Turtle Cheesecake; Drumstick; Fried Ice Cream; Graham Central Station, which is graham cracker-flavored ice cream with bits of graham crackers; and Coffee Toffee, coffee-flavored ice cream with fudge and Heath candy pieces. Its new shake flavors are horchata, which is rice flour, non-fat milk solids, vanilla and cinnamon, horchata colada and cake batter.

Still, traditional flavors remain the most popular, such as mint chocolate chip; vanilla; Moosetracks™, which is vanilla with fudge and chocolate peanut butter cups; and French vanilla.

Passion Award
Chester “Whitey” Lindgren founded Whitey’s Ice Cream in 1933 in Moline. In 1953, he sold the company to Jeff Tunberg’s father, Bob Tunberg, who had worked at the store for 18 years. As soon as Jeff and Jon Tunberg were old enough, they began working at the company by picking up trash at the parking lot.

After 44 years, with only one location, the brothers began opening more stores in 1977. Tunberg says the company receives many requests to open more stores, such as in the Chicago suburbs, but does not want to grow too fast.

Earlier this year, Ice Cream University, a consulting company, presented Whitey’s with its annual Passion Award, which recognizes the best ice cream shops in the nation. Tunberg says the company was surprised and honored to receive the award. “It’s an honor from our peers and competitors,” he says. Also, Midwest Living Magazine has named Whitey’s Ice Cream as the “Best in the Midwest.”

Next summer, the company will celebrate its 75th anniversary. “It’s a big one,” he acknowledges. To celebrate, the stores will sell single dip ice cream cones for 75 cents during its anniversary week in July, and offer free ice cream for two hours on the Saturday of the anniversary week. In previous anniversaries, the company offered ice cream cones for five cents, but decided ringing up a nickel was too much of an interruption, he explains.

Focused on Charity
The company supports several charities and is active in the community, Tunberg says. After a 1993 flood in the Quad Cities, the company donated all its sales from the newly created Mississippi Mud Revel ice cream, which is Kona coffee ice cream with fudge and Oreo cookies, to the Red Cross.

The effort was so popular that some stores ran out of the ice cream. “One man asked if he could buy the mint chocolate chip instead and have those profits donated,” he says. “We told him that was fine.” The Mississippi Mud Revel flavor has become a regular favorite.