Kris Williams (filmmaker) - Nice Cream

Nice Cream

In the late 2000s, Kris was laid off from her job as a teacher with Chicago Public Schools and while searching for a new job, she recalled receiving an ice cream maker as a wedding gift. She began experimenting with new flavors and started a new artisan small-batch ice cream business called "Nice Cream", producing the dessert at Logan Square Kitchen, a shared community resource in Chicago. By 2010, demand had increased such that the ice cream was being sold in 18 local outlets, including specialty stores, farmer's markets, and two Whole Foods locations.

In late July, 2011, an inspector from Illinois Department of Public Health forced her to shut down operations until she either agrees to use a premade ice mix (as is used at Dairy Queen), or constructs her own manufacturing facility and purchases a commercial dairy license (intended to regulate major dairy producers such as Dean Foods). Although she submitted samples of her ice cream to labs for testing, which determined her bacterial levels were far lower than the state's published allowable levels, the State of Illinois focused on shutting down Swanberg's company until she purchases the large commercial equipment, and even if she uses pasteurized milk and boils all of her products together, she would still need to process it all through a commercial pasteurizer. Other small-batch ice cream makers in Illinois stated that they were concerned about the state coming for them next, particularly because they had invested significant sums in their businesses and could not afford to close.