Lamers Dairy: Bringing You Milk In Those Glass Bottles

FAMILY OPERATION FOR ALL OF ITS 105 YEARS
 

Appleton-based Lamers Dairy holds the distinction of being the last family-owned milk bottling plant in the state of Wisconsin. Housed in what looks like a big red barn complete with blue Harvestore Silo, just off State Highway 441, Lamers has a storied tradition of attention to quality and detail that is self-evident in the flavor profiles of their products. President Mark Lamers says the original Lamers homestead, where his great-grandfather bottled milk in the basement, is still standing about a mile away from their current location.

Founded by Jacob Lamers Sr. in 1913, Lamers Dairy has been a family operation from the get-go. In the first year of operation, the Lamers children distributed raw milk in preserve cans to neighboring residents as they went to school in the morning. The following year, the Lamers family began using a horse and buggy as the milk cart, and in 1919 the first truck was used. The first milk bottles imprinted with the Lamers name were introduced in 1931, and the first mechanical refrigeration in Kimberly was installed in 1932. The Lamers family moved the operation to downtown Kimberly in the 1930s, where the old dairy building still stands and where Mark Lamers’ father grew up. Dick Lamers is 87 and still comes in most days.

Five generations of Lamers have contributed to the success of the Lamers Dairy operation – as Mark says, “We all started out sweeping the dairy for the privilege of putting our feet under the dinner table.” In 1950, the building was again expanded and a laboratory was installed for quality testing of their dairy products.In 1998, the business was moved to the current location. For their 100th anniversary, Lamers Dairy commissioned artist Sheri Jo Posselt to paint a nearly 30-foot mural of the Lamers Dairy history. You can find the mural above their observation window.

Today, five of the Lamers children are actively involved in the business. Two of the next generation work full time for Lamers Dairy, and four work part time or in the summer. Four Lamers brothers currently head the Lamers Dairy operation, and each has grown into positions that speak to their strengths – Mark, president; Tom, sales; Joe, plant manager and Tim, quality control. Their employees and the farmers they source their milk from are similarly treated as family – “our employees and farmers are an extension of who we are,” Mark says.

Lamers Dairy sources its milk from seven small local family farms, all located within a 30-mile radius of their retail store. This ensures both the quality of the milk and that they keep their carbon footprint low. The biggest of the farms has a herd of 150 cows, the smallest has 53, and Lamers has no hesitation paying a higher premium for their milk. Mark describes how all their farmers monitor a science-backed formula of assessing bacteria numbers in the milk, saying “good farms pay attention.”

The Lamers brothers take turns going out to the family farms and picking up the milk themselves. The relationship between Lamers and their farmers is strong. “It feels good to know that it comes from one family to another,” Mark says.

Over more than a century, Lamers Dairy has figured out creative approaches to staying afloat in a world of big business. Mark described a five-year-period when Lamers had outgrown the dated downtown Kimberly dairy and was struggling with how to keep the business afloat.

He had a dream where his grandfather appeared to him and said, “God has blessed you immensely.” Shortly after, they were contacted by Hansen’s Dairy in Green Bay to help with private labeling of their milk. “It was a God moment,” Mark says. “Everything we have is really a blessing. Every town had a dairy – we had to figure out a way to survive.”

Lamers has not only survived, but thrives. Lamers built its current location in 1998, which serves as a model dairy laboratory and bottling operation for other dairies as well as milk inspectors and their trainees. Lamers has scaled its growth, slow and steady, so that they are small enough to withstand the impact of movements in the dairy industry, like rBGH (a genetically engineered artificial hormone injected in cows to produce more milk). “We never had it to begin with, so it’s not like we had to take anything out. Bigger isn’t always better,” Mark says.

Lamers’ glass bottle program is another testament to their creative business approaches. Mark described how Lamers relies heavily on customer feedback and developed the glass bottle program to deliver highquality milk in a way that has low impact on the environment. Pay a deposit upon purchase, enjoy the taste of milk from a glass bottle and then return the bottle to anywhere Lamers glass-bottle milk is sold. Lamers milk is farm-to-bottle within 48 hours. Usually, the milk in the bottle was from the cow earlier that morning. Lamers credits their farm families with supplying them with a superior product.

The Lamera brothers, pictured from left to right, are Tom, Mark, Joe and Tim. Contributed photo.

“We are not the cheapest milk on the market, but we believe we have a better product. It all starts on the farm. It’s like a computer: If you have bad information being put into it, you’re gonna get a bad result,” Mark says. Lamers Dairy Dairyland’s Best milk won first place for Whole Chocolate in both 2015 and 2016 coming on the heels of first place for White Milk in 2013 at the prestigious World Dairy Expo Championship. “We gotta be doing something right,” Mark says.

Lamers Dairy white milk is available in skim, 1%, 2% and whole, and their chocolate is available in fat-free (half-pints only), 1% and whole.

All Lamers Dairy milk is made from rBGH-free white milk from local family farms from Northeast Wisconsin.

In addition to the Lamers Dairy Country Store housed in their present location, Lamers Dairy Dairyland’s Best products are available in grocery stores, select drug stores and convenience stores in the Northeast Wisconsin area. Lamers sources Chicago’s “Eataly” with most of its milk for their ricotta, gelato and their Lavazza coffee shop, as well as a long list of Northeast Wisconsin coffee shops, cafes and restaurants. Lamers also supplies private labeling and base products for several Midwestern ice cream and dairy businesses. Call the dairy at 920-830-0980 if you would like to know where to fi nd Lamers Dairy Dairyland’s Best products in your area.

June is Dairy Month in Wisconsin, and all month long, Lamers’ soft-serve cones made with their rBGH-free milk and cream will be just 50 cents (with proceeds going to St. Joseph Food Program to help Wisconsin families in need). 

As Michelle Mauk-Lacy, marketing and advertising director for Lamers says, “the Lamers family work ethic and story is so amazing. At the end of the day, this is the milk they take home to their families.”