How Ice Cream Factory Builds a National Brand in Small-Town Missouri

Katie and Shannon Imler weren’t planning to buy a nearly 90,000-square-foot industrial building in need of extensive renovations. But their booming small-batch ice cream company had officially outgrown its original home in Eldon—an 8,000-square-foot former Kraft dairy plant where they launched Ice Cream Factory in 2019. It was time to scale up. “We knew we wanted to stay in state, so we looked literally everywhere,” Shannon says.

The Imlers eventually landed on a long-vacant industrial building on a crumbling street just south of downtown Lebanon. A former creamery, it sat untouched for more than 20 years, stripped bare, run down and a magnet for squatters. But the bones were good. 

After negotiating an economic development incentive package with the City of Lebanon, the Imlers closed on the property in May 2022. An investment company had purchased the building at auction in the late ’90s but never touched it. 

The couple purchased seven parcels totaling 25 acres and invested more than $10 million, clearing debris and repairing large sections of block walls. Not one piece of original equipment was salvageable—but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise, presenting what Shannon calls a “blank canvas.”

One of the most visible transformations happened outside. As part of the pre-purchase negotiations, the city spent $1.5 million rebuilding the street, which has been riddled with potholes and prone to flooding. They raised it, added new gutters and landscaping, installed a bridge to eliminate flooding and renamed it Ice Cream Way.

Millions of dollars and over a year of redevelopment later, Ice Cream Factory’s new facility was fully operational. On April 11, 2025, the building earned designation on the National Register of Historic Places, recognizing the restoration and opening doors to special grants and tax credits. “We couldn’t be more happy with our investment in the community,” Shannon says. Today, the facility serves as the company’s production hub, corporate headquarters and distribution center, regularly shipping pints to more than 5,000 retailers in 48 states.

Even with the incredible growth, keeping Ice Cream Factory rooted in Missouri remains essential. The Imlers source local milk and maintain their original Eldon scoop shop. 

Less than one year after opening its doors, they opened a second location in Jefferson City in February 2020. While the company moved ice cream production to the new facility, it still makes “inclusion pieces,” like cookie dough or brownie chunks, from scratch at a bakery in the Eldon shop.

That commitment to all things local is visible the moment you arrive at the factory. The street-facing side of the building doesn’t display a single sign. Instead, giant letters near the rear entrance bear the company’s core pillars: PEOPLE. PASSION. PERSISTENCE. “Those are more important than our company name,” Shannon explains. 

This people-focused ideology manifests in the business model. Ice Cream Factory develops one new flavor a month, many of them sourced from customer submissions. The company makes a single run of the flavor and only major hits return, like peach cobbler, which now makes an annual summer appearance. Shannon’s favorite? Blackberry cobbler. “I eat at least three containers a week,” he shares. 

Shannon and Katie both grew up on family farms in Eldon. “I’m the first person in my family that didn’t own farmland,” Shannon says. “I took a different career path as an entrepreneur.” 

But his agricultural roots run deep. Shannon credits FFA for shaping the way he operates his business. “No. 1, my meticulous record books,” he says. “No. 2, I was part of contest teams and had to present in front of people. It helped me articulate in conversation—how to say this ice cream is better than that one, for example. I also understand the dairy industry thanks to FFA.”

The family aspects of farming also translate to Ice Cream Factory. Katie serves as the marketing manager, and 6-year-old son Harrison is the official taste tester. When they manage to carve out free time, the Imlers head outside, hiking Ha Ha Tonka State Park and running. Harrison recently started joining his mom and dad for 5Ks.

As for what advice he’d give others considering launching or expanding a food business, Shannon doesn’t hesitate: “Be persistent and pray a lot for guidance.”