Joy Cone Acquires BoDeans Baking Group, Altesa

HERMITAGE, Pa. – The Joy Cone Co., the largest maker of ice cream cones in the United States, has acquired BoDeans Baking Group, a maker of specialty cones in Iowa, and Altesa, the largest maker of ice cream cones in Mexico.

David George, president and CEO of Joy, made the announcement Friday. Terms were not disclosed.

BoDeans acquired Altesa in 2013, its website says.

With the acquisition, Joy becomes the largest manufacturer of ice cream cones in the world, George said. At its bakeries here and Flagstaff, Ariz., Joy employees produce more than 1.5 billion cones annually.

Joy Cone, founded in 1918, is an ESOP – employees stock-ownership plan – enterprise, the company said, and with its expansion will become a 100% ESOP company.

BoDeans, based in Le Mars, Iowa, was founded in 2000 and has expanded three times to become two bakeries with nearly 150,000 square feet. It makes wafers, specialty cones and dessert crumbs.

In a prepared statement, George said, “BoDeans Baking Group’s manufacturing excellence in wafers and cookie inclusions is a particularly exciting area of growth as the combined company continues its expansion and offers a range of unique specialty bakery items to a greatly enhanced customer base.”

Joy Cone was founded in 1918 when Lebanese immigrant Albert George and his family members bought some second-hand cone-baking machines and started the George & Thomas Cone Co. The company is still operated by the family.

Over the past decade, Joy Cone has expanded its operations here three times and today features a 500,000-square-foot plant floor with two production lines and an on-site warehouse.

Before the acquisitions that were announced today, the company employed about 400.

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