Joy Cone Co

What Joy Cone Co does

Joy Cone Co, a Pennsylvania corporation headquartered in Hermitage, PA, is a 100% employee-owned (ESOP) manufacturer of ice cream cones and related bakery products, operating as part of the broader Joy Baking Group. Founded in 1918 as George & Thomas Cone Co., the company is the largest ice cream cone producer in the United States and operates four manufacturing facilities spanning Hermitage, PA (its consolidated campus housing the cookie plant since a 2010 expansion), Flagstaff, AZ (a Western U.S. site launched in 2000), Le Mars, IA (acquired through the 2016 BoDeans Baking Group deal), and Mexico City (Altesa, acquired concurrently in 2016). Its product portfolio includes cake cones, sugar cones, waffle cones, waffle bowls, gluten-free options, cookies, wafers, and pie crusts produced under the Joy retail brand and private-label arrangements.

The company serves three primary B2B customer segments: food service (restaurants and ice cream shops, with Dairy Queen as a major account since the early 1970s), retail (consumer-packaged cones sold through grocery and mass channels), and industrial (sugar cones, wafers, pie crusts, inclusions, and cookies supplied to other food manufacturers, primarily through BoDeans). Distribution covers the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Joy Cone supports retail demand through a multi-channel content marketing presence including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok under the "Bring Joy Home" platform, with recipes, crafts, and blog content intended to drive at-home ice cream cone consumption.

Joy Cone is privately held with no external equity capital; ownership is fully distributed among employees through an ESOP established in its current form in September 2016 alongside the BoDeans acquisition. Leadership transitioned from founder Albert George to second-generation Joe George (who took over in 1964 and retired as Chairman in March 2016) to third-generation David George, who became President in 2007. The company engages in philanthropic giving (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Toys for Tots) and holds membership in the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). No technology platform, software product, or AI/ML capabilities are described in the available data.

Name

Joy Cone Co

Legal name

Joy Baking Group

Website

https://joycone.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1918

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Joy Cone Co is a 100% employee-owned U.S. manufacturer of ice cream cones, cones cups, wafers, and bakery products, serving food service, retail, and industrial customers across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico from four production facilities under the Joy Baking Group.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ice Cream Cones

NAICS

Cookie and Cracker Manufacturing (311821), Frozen Cakes, Pies, and Other Pastries Manufacturing (311813)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Food And Kindred Products (2000), Cookies & Crackers (2052)

akta.pro primary industry

Pastry, Cakes & Tortes Manufacturing (AFAKAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pastry, Cakes & Desserts Wholesale (AFAIAFAB), Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts Wholesale (AFAIAHAC)

Keywords

• Ice cream cones
• Waffle cones
• Cake cones
• Cone manufacturing
• Baking products

Headquarters

HQ city

Hermitage

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ice Cream Cone Sales: Joy Cone generates revenue through the manufacturing and sale of ice cream cones including cake cones, sugar cones, waffle cones, and waffle bowls. The company also produces wafers, pie crusts, inclusions, and cookies. Revenue comes from serving food service, industrial, and retail markets across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Joy Cone Co manufactures and sells ice cream cones and related baked goods — including cake cones, sugar cones, waffle cones, waffle bowls, cake cups, gluten-free cones, wafers, pie crusts, and cookies — serving consumer/retail, food service, and industrial customers across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico from four manufacturing facilities. Operating under the Joy Baking Group umbrella, the company also offers private-label and co-packing capabilities through BoDeans Baking Group for industrial clients.

Product overview

Joy Cone Co, operating under Joy Baking Group, is the world's largest producer of ice cream cones and related products. The company offers a unified portfolio of cone and cup products organized into three main lines: Consumer Products (retail), Food Service Products, and Industrial Products. The core products include Sugar Cones (including OREO-branded varieties), Cake Cups (available in regular, jumbo, mini, color, and dipped varieties), Waffle Cones & Bowls (including chocolate and enJOY-a-Bowl varieties), and Gluten-Free Products. The company expanded its capabilities through acquisitions including BoDeans Baking Group (2016, supplying industrial sugar cones, wafers, and cookie inclusions) and Altesa (Mexico), while also manufacturing wafers, pie crusts, and cookies alongside cones.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sugar Cones Traditional sugar cones sold in 12-count retail packages, including OREO-branded sugar cones with cookie pieces, for at-home ice cream consumption.
• Cake Cups

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• St. Jude Children's Research HospitalminorOthersJoy Cone is proud to partner with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Joy Cone donated $100,000 in addition to their employees' monetary contributions to help support St. Jude's lifesaving mission of finding cures and saving children.
• American Cancer SocietyminorOthersCommunity organization focusing on health supported by Joy Baking Group through donations and corporate giving.
• American Heart AssociationminorOthersHealth-focused organization supported by Joy Baking Group as part of their community health and education initiatives.
• Toys for TotsminorOthersCharitable organization supported by Joy Baking Group that focuses on children's well-being through toy donations.
• Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoy Baking Group is a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). As a member, they are committed to supporting the vision of a global partnership to make palm oil sustainable.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• The J.M. Smucker Co. J.M. Smucker owns Hostess and other sweet baked goods brands, competing in the sweet snack and dessert occasion. It is comparable as a broad incumbent in packaged sweet bakery and frozen/dessert-adjacent categories that overlaps with Joy Cone's consumer cake cup, cookie, and ice cream occasion products.
• General Mills: General Mills is a large U.S. packaged food manufacturer with overlapping categories including baking mixes, refrigerated dough, and snacks. It is comparable as a broad food incumbent that operates in adjacent bakery/snack aisles where Joy Cone's consumer products compete for shelf space and consumption occasions.
• Conagra Brands: Conagra is a major U.S. frozen and packaged food company with extensive foodservice and retail reach. It is comparable as a broad incumbent in frozen desserts and bakery adjacencies that competes for similar retail and foodservice customers, and serves as a potential private-label and branded competitor to Joy Cone's portfolio.
• Post Holdings: Post Holdings is a diversified packaged food holding company with multiple bakery, cereal, and refrigerated retail brands. It is comparable as a broad incumbent that consolidates and scales niche food brands, similar in profile to a roll-up acquirer of regional bakery and dessert businesses that would compete with Joy Cone's product line.
• Mondelez International: Mondelez is a global snacks powerhouse (Oreo, Cadbury, etc.) with deep cookie, wafer, and frozen dessert adjacencies. It is comparable as a global incumbent that both competes for sweet-snack occasions and could serve as a co-branding or licensing partner analogous to Joy Cone's existing OREO-branded sugar cone collaboration.
• McKee Foods: McKee Foods (Little Debbie, Drake's) is a large private U.S. snack and baked goods manufacturer. It is comparable as a privately held, scale-focused baked goods/snack producer with similar mass-market retail and convenience channel exposure as Joy Cone's consumer line.
• Flowers Foods: Flowers Foods is one of the largest U.S. producers of packaged bakery goods (breads, buns, snack cakes). It is comparable as a broad incumbent in shelf-stable baked goods with national DSD distribution, sharing the baked goods manufacturing economics and retail customer relationships that anchor Joy Cone's consumer business.

Emerging players

• TreeHouse Foods: TreeHouse Foods is a leading private-label food manufacturer serving retail and foodservice customers across multiple categories. It is comparable as a private-label co-manufacturer whose retail and foodservice customer base overlaps with Joy Cone's, and which represents the principal private-label competitive threat to Joy Cone's branded cones and cups.
• Lancaster Colony: Lancaster Colony is a specialty food manufacturer focused on frozen and refrigerated foodservice and retail products. It is comparable as a focused, mid-sized food manufacturer with a similar foodservice-heavy go-to-market and product line breadth across sauces, breads, and frozen items that overlap with Joy Cone's foodservice and industrial channels.
• J&J Snack Foods: J&J Snack Foods is a U.S. manufacturer and distributor of snack foods and frozen beverages, with a strong foodservice channel presence. It is comparable as a specialty snack/frozen-dessert supplier serving the same foodservice and amusement/concession customers that Joy Cone targets, and competes for the same ice cream and dessert occasions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UChZ-FTquprTBh2Rrzimmx3g?view_as=subscriber
• Facebookfacebook.com/JoyConeCo
• Instagraminstagram.com/joyconeco
• TikToktiktok.com/@joyconeco
• Pinterestpinterest.com/joycone/recipes-of-joy
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/joy-cone-co

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Joy Cone Co