Award-Winning Dairy Farm Expands Into Kalamazoo County With Drive-Thru Location

RICHLAND, Mich. — MOO-ville Creamery, the Barry County family farm that has been making award-winning ice cream for over two decades, is expanding into Kalamazoo County with a new location in Richland.

The new ice cream shop will open at 8940 N. 32nd St. in Richland in late 2026 or early 2027. The new ice cream shop will be the fifth overall for MOO-ville and feature a drive-thru, gift shop, bakery and more. It is being built out inside a historic barn that went up in 1837 and served as the former home of the Stagecoach Barn.

MOO-ville Creamery's motto is, If it's not better, why bother.

The award-winning ice cream maker, established in 2005 on the Westendorp family farm in Barry County, has been busy living up to that motto for over two decades now.

In that time, the creamery has won multiple national honors, placed its brand in over 100 retailers across Michigan and opened four of its own ice cream shops. It will soon open a fifth, either late this year or early next, confirmed Troy Westendorp, co-owner at the family farm.

That shop is in the process of being built out in a historic Kalamazoo County barn, at 8940 N. 32nd St. in Richland. The barn, built in 1837, recently served as the home of Belltower Lake House Living Co. and prior to that was known as the Stagecoach Barn, an event space that closed in 2014.

"There's quite a bit of work to be done in the building," Westendorp said. "We're still trying to lock in a full design for it right now."

The adjacent house on the property is in rough shape and will likely be torn down.

Tina and Andrew Bencovsky, the latter of whom is handling the build-out, will manage the day-to-day operations of the shop. The family has long considered expanding into Kalamazoo County with an eye cast specifically on Richland.

"Even before we built our second store in Ionia in 2017, Richland was a spot that we looked at," Westendorp said. "We thought there was a good opportunity. This is just another community that we've always admired, and we just love the people around there. After circling back to the idea about a year ago, the family spent months looking for the right spot and just kept coming back to the barn.

"It's just got the bones of a nice ice cream shop," Westendorp said. "We'll have to spend quite a bit of money to make it how we want to, but it should be a real nice store when we get it up and running."

There will be more seating and storage than the existing MOO-ville locations in Nashville, Ionia, Zeeland and Eaton Rapids. There are plans for a small bakery on site, a large walk-in cooler and freezer, a gift shop, outdoor entertainment space and a drive-thru.

MOO-ville Creamery will offer the full MOO-ville product line, including meat, take-and-bake meals, ice cream and milk to go. Patrons will also be able to choose between 40 flavors of hand-dipped ice cream, order an iconic MOO-valanche or a sundae to their liking.

One thing the space will not offer that the original location does is a petting zoo, Westendorp said. The shop, once open, will be a year-round operation.

"We're hoping to draw the whole Kalamazoo area, as well as people on Gull Lake," he said.

Farm-First Approach

At MOO-ville, the farm comes first. If we don't have the cows, we don't have milk, Andrew Benkovsky, manager of MOO-ville in Eaton Rapids, said. If you don't have milk, we don't have a product. Our number one priority at the farm is the cows.

240 cows are currently being milked at the farm, and each one produces about 12 to 13 gallons of milk every day. Cows eat inside of their barn on the farm at MOO-ville.

After the cow is milked, gravity takes the milk downhill to the store where ice cream is made.

Cow to cone is what we say here at MOO-ville, Benkovsky explained. We have the cows on the farm, and we process everything from the cow and then it comes into your cone.

You can see the whole process for yourself. Self-guided tours of the robot barn are available at any time MOO-ville is open. Robots not only milk the cows, but also keep track of their health as well.

Tours of the robot barn are offered on weekends, or you can do a self-guided tour any time MOO-ville is open.

All of their milk comes from their cows, and it's all A2/A2. A sign inside MOO-ville's store explains the benefits of a2 milk.

"When you're drinking milk, a lot of times it's that A1 protein that affects your stomach, Benkovsky, explained. A2 has been scientifically researched and proven that helps your digestion system.

MOO-ville's chocolate and vanilla ice cream was recognized by the North American Ice Cream Association as being the best in America. MOO-ville's vanilla and chocolate ice cream won blue ribbons from the North American Ice Cream Association.

They make over 60 other flavors of ice cream as well.

"My favorite ice cream flavor would be Peanut Butter Overload this year, Benkovsky said. It's a brand new one. It's a peanut butter base, and there's peanut butter, chocolate chips, and flakes in it.

For more information, visit moo-ville.com.