PEORIA MAGAZINE July 2022

Don Bates of El Paso enjoys an ice cream cone and conversation at Uncle Bob’s

Maxwell Brown, 10, Logan Rittenhouse, 10, and Carter Rittenhouse, 12, devour the ice cream at Uncle Bob’s

Uncle Bob’s has come a long way since the elder Bally was stacking ice cream buckets in his home’s family room. Like those bucket pyramids, the components of his business were built one at a time. In 2005, Ben Bally bought an old potato chip delivery truck, spending his freshman year in college refashioning it into a mobile ice cream parlor, which allowed Uncle Bob’s to take its show on the road more often. In 2010, a bricks and-mortar operation opened in an old restaurant on U.S. Route 24 (Center Street) in Eureka, with that marquee truck parked out front. Two years later, the Ballys acquired a wholesaler’s license and started shipping to grocery stores and eateries within an hour’s drive of the Woodford County seat. Meanwhile, the Eureka location served as both retail ice cream emporium and production facility. About 55 percent of Uncle Bob’s sales now come from its wholesale operations, with another 10 percent from catered events such as weddings and corporate outings, estimates Ben Bally. The remainder is generated at the Eureka shop, despite it being closed each year from Thanksgiving week until early April. The multiple income streams help cushion the business during slower periods. Whi le many businesses saw sales tumble during the COVID pandemic, for example, Uncle Bob’s sales “bumped up.” “If it was just the storefront, it would have killed us but our grocery store

sales went through the roof and it hasn’t gone down to normal yet,” said Ben. He noted that al l production, packaging and hand-labeling takes place at the store, with about 20worker hours daily needed for production.

Ben. “You can’t do it for money alone. You have to love it. I do different things and I get the chance to be creative.” While he’s the only full-time employ ee, Ben Bally admits he lets his approx imately 20 workers handle most of the actual scooping. The business’ main ice cream-making machine is maxed out. ‘YOU CAN’T DO IT FOR MONEY ALONE. YOU HAVE TO LOVE IT’ “We couldn’t make another gallon of ice cream if we needed to,” he said. In addition to word-of-mouth, Uncle Bob’s hosts field trips to see and even assistwith icecreamproduction. Schools, camps, Scout and even senior citizens groups – “everyone from 80-year-olds to kindergarteners” — have visited the Eureka shop. Meanwhile, doctors at nearby Carle Eureka Hospital, in town from the Chicago area, often take the ice cream home, spreading its fame. Admitting to a personal fondness for turtle sundae ice cream, Ben Bally says the Oreo Overload flavor is the perennial top seller. As for the future, he simply says, “It is what it is because it is what it is. And I want to keep it that way.” Ben Bally

Rebecca Orns serves a customer at the store’s drive-up window

“Eighty percent of the recipes are the ones I developed years ago,” Bob Bally said, adding that ingredients are locally sourced whenever possible. “People are demanding higher quality. And real. We use as much natural as we can.” Other flavor ideas come from cus tomers, employees, friends and family. Through it all, the passion for the business and serving customers has remained. “I was more concerned with quality, a good name and great customer service than I was with turning a profit,” said

Bob Grimson is a longtime journalist. He also is quite active in Peoria area community theater

JULY 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 77