Ontario's Smallest Dairy Plant: Four All Ice Cream

That's right. We're a licensed dairy plant! So... What does that mean?

When Ajoa decided to start Four All Ice Cream, she wanted to make every ingredient choice count, right down to the very milk used in the ice cream base. Ice cream base is what ice cream looks like before it has the flavour ingredients and before it has been churned; a combination of milk, cream, egg yolk, sugar, etc. Most ice cream makers simply buy premade "ice cream base" that are made with conventional milks and corn syrup. In order to make the base we want from scratch, using Golden Guernsey milk and invert sugar rather than corn syrup, we are required to pasteurize our ice cream base. This is a rule enforced by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

Rather than most food businesses that are inspected by the municipal Public Health, we follow strict rules and are inspected by the provincial OMAFRA body. In order to become a licensed dairy plant, our facility had to pass many requirements that are not easy to implement just anywhere in town: higher than 10 ft. ceilings, a sloped floor with a drain, all surfaces completely washable, air pressured, not within a certain distance of greenery, and more. Upon entering the factory, OMAFRA requires that we wear hair nets, pass through foot baths with exclusive footwear or wear sanitary booties, and wear white aprons. 

All of these rules are for a very specific purpose: traceability. We make ice cream to sell both directly to customers and wholesale to other retailers around the area. In order for us to be allowed to those things, we have to follow these strict rules and keep detailed records on every single ingredient we use. We would not be able to make ice cream from scratch and sell it from our cart in KW without being a licensed dairy plant. We would not be able to have satellite scoop shops such as at Legacy Greens, without being a licensed dairy plant. And we would not be able to sell pints of ice cream to other stores without being a licensed dairy plant.

This is a very unique license that not many people hold! In fact, we are currently the only dairy plant in Kitchener and the smallest (only 400 square ft.) in all of Ontario. We are very proud to work hard and smart to be able to make you the best ice cream possible. Many people wonder why we are located in such a strange part of town for a food business, but now you know why! Everything from the gravel lane that brings you to our door is vital to us being able to make you ice cream in Ontario.