A large employer in the Village of Akron is celebrating a major milestone. Family owned Perry's Ice Cream is celebrating its 100th birthday.
When Morton Perry started making ice cream in 1918, he probably couldn't imagine that one day his great-grandchildren would be running the company.
"Less than two percent of family businesses make it to the fourth generation," said Brian Perry. He's a great-grandson of the founder and is Executive Vice President & Chairman of Perry's. He says the company now employs about 375 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. But Perry says all the manufacturing is still done in Akron. Each year the company makes about 12 million gallons of ice cream.
"As I think somebody said, if we put our half-gallons together and put them end-to-end they would go to California and back," Perry said.
But it's not all Perry's. He says the Akron facility produces ice cream for several other brands including local, national and international companies.
"We want to be known, and we believe we are in the class of a world class manufacturer today. And we've got some of the best ice cream companies in the world asking us to make their ice cream for them. And you have to be good to do that. But one thing you gotta remember is every formula for every different ice cream we make is different. We do not put the Perry's brand in any other package," Perry said.
Along with directly employing hundreds of people, Perry's also supports local farmers. Nearly 100 percent of the milk it turns into ice cream comes from farms within 50 miles of Akron.
