Mercer’s Dairy is engaged in the production of specialty ice creams and other ice cream products. The company’s corporate headquarters is located in New York, USA.
History
The history of Mercer’s Dairy started in the 1930s when Ralph Manzer, a dairy farmer from Oneida County, New York, began selling bottled milk that he harvested from his farm. He called his business “RR Manzer” and continued to bottle and sell milk until 1945.
After 1945, Ralph Manzer sold his milk route as well as his bottling equipment to new owners Ira Barnard and his wife. Mr. Barnard then renamed the dairy business “ID Bernard.” After this, he started construction on a bottling plant in Boonville, New York. Completion of this bottling facility allowed Barnard to produce and sell 300 quarts of milk every day.
In the next couple of years, ID Barnard continued to expand by adding a milk route in the area of Constableville, New York. He also added a new delivery route in the area of Forestport, New York. In all these routes, ID Barnard made milk deliveries to homes and other establishments each day. During those times, commercial milk was sold raw, or unprocessed. It was only in the late part of the 1940s that pasteurization became mandatory for commercially sold milk.
In 1951, Barnard sold his milk business to Earl Mercer. Mercer bought the dairy, the mik facility and the house next to it for a total of $35,000. In the later part of that year, Mercer bought an ice cream machine that had a capacity of two and a half gallons. By 1952, Mercer was already able to establish a farm route and started to produce the company’s first ice cream, making 5000 gallons its first year. The company had also increased its milk production to 900 quarts every day. After 5 years, milk production had increased to about 5000 gallons every year.
Between the 1950s to the 1960s, Mercer continued expanding the company by acquiring the Royal Duchess Ice Cream Company and Lowville Dairy. The company then became Mercer’s Dairy, Incorporated, and opened stores in different parts of New York, like Boonville, Lyon Falls and Stokes. The company was now owned by three co-owners who had equal share of the company: Earl Mercer, James Mercer, Robert Mercer and Harlan Belinger. Despite the ice cream company’s continued growth, Jim Mercer sold his shares of it to other shareholders and bought the three ice cream stores.
In 1973, Earl Mercer sold his shares of the dairy to his daughter and her husband. Mercer’s Dairy continued to expand with its acquisition of Adirondack Dairy in 1979 and Rossdale Dairy in the early part of the 1980s. By 2001, Mercer’s Dairy was selling 150,000 gallons of ice cream every year.
In 2002, Mercer’s Dairy was bought by Quality Dairy Farms, Inc. Today, Mercer’s Dairy continues to offer the same original flavors of ice cream that its customers have always enjoyed.
Stats
Headquarters: Boonville, New York
Ownership Type: Private
Employees: information not available
Geography: USA
Demography: retail ice cream consumers
Brands
Mercer’s Dairy®, Wine Makers
Important links
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