MEMBER PROFILE

Wade’s Dairy Has Been Serving Its Customers for 129 Years

BY COURTNEY KLESS

On a shelf in his office, Douglas Wade Jr. has milk bottles that date as far back as 1912, some of the first produced by his great grandfather, Frank Henry Wade.

Wade, the current president, is part of the fourth generation to run Wade’s Dairy.

“I think my earliest recollection goes back to maybe when I was 8 years old, and the milkman would pick me up at my parents’ house,” he said. “I would ride in that milk truck, sitting on a wooden milk crate, no seatbelts, open doors, just bouncing around. I have a wealth of knowledge from growing up in this business.”

Frank Henry Wade started Wade’s Dairy more than a century ago – in 1893, to be exact.

“The story goes that he had 25 or 26 cows,” said Wade. “He would actually start his chores at midnight, and, around 5:30 or 6 a.m., he would go out in a horse and buggy with a big can of milk and a ladle and stop at each home. The people would be waiting for him because they would plan their breakfast around when the milkman was coming. He would ladle a quart of milk into whatever pitcher they came out with, and then be on his way to the next customer. He probably served about 20 or 25 families, and he went out every day.”

In 1907, he moved from Easton, Connecticut, to Fairfield, Connecticut, and began pasteurizing his milk, selling it under the F. H. Wade label. In the years that followed, Frank’s son, John, joined him, and his other son, Howard, built a dairy plant behind his home 5 miles away and began selling milk under the H.F. Wade label. In 1933, when Frank retired, the brothers came together and started Wade’s Dairy.

The company would continue to grow and adapt from there. Around 1970, Wade’s Dairy added school milk and started using a machine called a spin-welder, which turned two pieces of plastic into a bottle, added milk, sealed it and put the finished half pints into a crate – all at a high rate of speed. Wade said, at one point, the company was producing as many as 100,000 half pints of milk each day. Then, in 1973, the oil embargo began.

“All of a sudden, our plastic containers that all the schools loved became very expensive compared to paper,” said Wade. “By 1976, we were out of the spin-weld business because the embargo just made it non-competitive. That was a major change for us.”

In the late 1980s, Wade’s Dairy changed direction again. It reached a deal with Guida’s Dairy to package its milk, so it closed its plant. “That opened a lot of avenues for us,” said Wade. The company grew from there, going from $2.6 million in sales in 1987 to $40 million in sales last year.

“We’re very open to change,” said Wade. “When home delivery was really going off the cliff so to speak, we didn’t give up the battle. We kept changing and looking at every opportunity, and that spin-welder was a huge opportunity. Shutting down the plant was a very good move for us because it allowed us to really branch out. We got into a whole host

of ancillary products. Right now, we are still a milk company, but we have diversified.”

These days, Wade’s Dairy distributes a variety of dairy products (and other food items) to school systems, delis, convenience stores, restaurants and healthcare facilities, all of which are within 90 miles of its facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Those products include milk, plant-based milk alternatives, cheese, eggs, butter, yogurt, ice cream, juice, baked goods and soup. Wade’s Dairy has also added several shelf stable products to its offerings, such as creams and single serve milks for its school lunch programs.

“One of the things that makes us really unique right now is that our milk is coming up from Clover Farms in Pennsylvania,” said Wade. “Reading, Pennsylvania, is like Connecticut was 100 years ago. It’s all fertile farmland, and Clover Farms sits in the middle of all of these farms. Its processing plant is family-run; it runs like a clock. I’ve never had any quality issues. It’s a good, clean product.”

And the company didn’t slow down during the pandemic.

“We have done extraordinarily well,” said Wade. “It opened up a world of opportunities for us.”

One example is food giveaways. Wade’s Dairy held 48 over the course of the pandemic at its facility. The company also brought back its home delivery service, which it had discontinued in 1992 after 100 years.

“The phone started ringing with people wanting to know if we do home delivery,” said Wade. “Within a matter of four or five weeks, we had 300 customers. But, within a matter of another two months, people felt safe again to go out shopping, so home delivery lasted all of six months. But it was an amazing run. Everyone kept remarking what a great pivot it was and how extraordinary it was to go back to our roots. Even though it was for a short period of time, it was a whole lot of fun.”

Though a lot has changed throughout its history, Wade’s Dairy has remained committed to customer service.

“That’s what we’re known for,” said Wade. “Most everyone I serve as a customer has my phone number. It’s a new world out there. Changes are fast and furious, and you just have to keep your customers informed about what’s happening. We like to have their back because without the customer we are nothing. When you’ve been around for 129 years, you hope you’ve been doing some things right.”

Courtney Kless is a staff writer for Northeast Dairy Media.