KALONA

Enter Kalona Chocolates and you’ll discover a dozen flavors of ice cream behind the counter, and only one of them is chocolate.

“There were two different kinds of chocolate ice cream, and we had to decide,” Hannah Liddell, wholesale corporate gift manager and creative designer, says. “Lyndon mentioned, ‘Well, we can’t not serve chocolate.’”

It’s been a little over a year since Ryan Bontrager purchased the business from Lyndon and Mattie Hershberger (Lyndon continues as manager), and the new owner is tackling items on his punch list.

“My grandpa always dreamed of having chocolates, an ice cream shop, something down that alley, and that was always in my mind,” Bontrager told The News when we talked to him at the time of sale in April 2025. Now that ice cream shop component has become reality.

The hard serve ice cream is handcrafted by Dan and Debbie’s Creamery in Ely, about 40 miles north of Kalona. The dairy farm and creamery are known for genuinely valuing each cow and having complete control over products from farm to table.

“We handle the whole supply chain, from cow to cone,” Dan and Debbie’s said in a Facebook post. “We know everything that went into that product, from the crops we grew to the batch of ice cream made.”

Bontrager chose Dan and Debbie’s ice cream because he has a relationship with them through previous business partnerships, but it turns out, a lot of locals love Dan and Debbie’s too.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of ice cream that we sold the first weekend,” Hershberger says – they first rolled it out June 19, just in time for Kalona Days. “I was a little bit surprised to find out the excitement for that specific brand. It feels like many locals are familiar with it and excited to have it in Kalona.”

On this day, the flavors in the case include coffee Oreo, cookie dough, strawberry sorbet, peaches and cream, strawberry cheesecake, vanilla bean, butter pecan, mint chocolate chip, Dutch chocolate, birthday cake, salted caramel, and cookies and cream. Customers can choose between single and double scoops, and dish, cake, and waffle cone.

But let’s not forget, we are still in a chocolate shop, and that opens up all kinds of possibilities.

“Ice cream and chocolate just really pair well together,” Liddell says. “One unique thing is that you can get your scoop – whatever flavor – and then you can add a topper of our handcrafted chocolate from the case. It’s just a really fun way to celebrate that pairing.”

Let’s pause and think about that for a moment. A piece of English toffee crushed over your coffee Oreo scoop. A pecan crunch boosting your butter pecan. Cherry cordials enhancing your Dutch chocolate.

Lindell and Hershberger float some ideas they have for chocolate-enhanced ice cream treats, and the decadence level is off the charts. Ice cream at Kalona Chocolates has the potential to be a five-star dessert.

But for the moment, the shop is keeping it simple.

“I think the heart of the owner, Ryan, is to be a place where the community can gather, to bring people in to have a good time, to serve the community,” Liddell says.

“From the very beginning, I think that was part of his vision, to create that kind of space,” Hershberger agrees.

For those wanting to relax and enjoy drinks and ice cream in climate-controlled comfort, that physical space exists when you first enter the shop. Tables and chairs fill the atrium, where a greenery-laced rooftop overhangs a little deck.

There’s a new feature here too: windows providing a view of hair-netted chocolatiers crafting chocolates while you watch.

That production area has just been completed, providing employees more space to enrobe cremes and salt caramels. Right now, they’re still learning to use new equipment in the space: two cooling tunnels and a caramel cutter. They’ve got a few weeks to adjust, and then the new tools will prove their worth when the shop ramps up production in preparation for the holiday season.

“We felt like we pretty much maxed out our production capacity last fall, so that’s what was behind expanding the space and purchasing the equipment,” Hershberger says. “We’ll increase our capacity, and it also makes us more efficient. We think we can use the same number of staff but produce more product.”

Kalona Chocolates employs about 25 people, mostly part-time. On any given day, eight to 10 of them might be crafting and packaging chocolates or assisting customers in the shop.

Previously, treats like tadpoles or truffles would be coated in chocolate and moved by hand, one at a time, with a fork, a skill that requires a steady hand and was difficult to master. They would then need some time to harden before they could continue through production.

With the cooling tunnel, rows of coated confections travel down a conveyer belt, where they move through cooling zones: first a milder zone that begins to set the shape, then a colder zone to fully solidify, and finally a slightly warmer zone before exiting that prevents condensation. Air circulates both above and below the chocolate, ensuring the chocolate sets perfectly on all sides.

When the chocolates exit the tunnel, they can be easily handled, finished, and packaged. The process takes mere minutes.

The new equipment will allow them to at least double their capacity, Hershberger says.

For those who have been following the Kalona Chocolates story, it may come as some surprise that the business is experiencing so much demand it must expand to keep up.

A mere two years ago, Hershberger was stockpiling couverture (basic, pre-processed chocolate) as a hedge against cocoa futures, which were headed straight up due to declining cocoa crops, and he was worried about the effect of raising his own prices. But lower demand and increased supply have since brought about a correction in the cocoa market.

Bontrager’s energy has also infused the business. Seeing untapped potential in corporate gifts, Kalona Chocolates has expanded that channel, now providing confections to businesses that want to send thank-you gifts, do special promotions, or take advantage of custom labeling in addition to holiday gifting. Working with a salesperson has helped, as has Liddell’s work in social media, which has aided the chocolate shop in reaching a broader spectrum of people and spreading word-of-mouth.

Hershberger appreciates the shop’s renewed momentum, which ultimately can be attributed to the community’s support. And Liddell gives huge props to the staff for tolerating construction work and learning new processes.

“They have done an incredible job and have rolled with it and kept learning and growing,” she says. “I think that says a lot about our team as a whole.”

If you follow Kalona Chocolates on Facebook, you know they even worked through a recent power outage, aided by flashlights.

“Just like that,” Liddell chuckles. “What an incredible team.”