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For over four generations, Daisy brand has been a family company committed to providing the freshest, most wholesome dairy products. Our family-owned and family-run company has grown significantly and today you can find Daisy products across the country. We trace our success to the roots of our company, which simply began with a horse, a buggy, and a simple dream to provide the best products at a fair price.

Nearly a century ago, a noble, charitable man named Morris emigrated from Russia to create a new life for his family in the United States. Morris, whose son Louis made and lost his first million by age 20 in a volatile Chicago real estate market, was concerned for his family’s ability to survive. “Louis, you need to get a real job!” proclaimed Morris. With Morris’s contribution of a horse and buggy, so began Louis’s adventure in selling farm-fresh dairy products through the Windy City of Chicago. Though initially Louis’s fledgling company sold dairy products under no identifiable name, by 1920 the first distinctly Daisy Brand products were introduced.

Slowly but surely, Louis would make his way from the wagon to a storefront. After seeing his son’s commitment, Morris saw a wise opportunity to further invest his son’s new company. By 1922, Louis opened his first factory close to Haymarket Square where the business began. Daisy Brand flourished through the Great Depression and became a recognizable name that grew, due in part to its inventive promotions. A customer favorite was the Daisy miniature porcelain butter churns; a promotion so popular that nearly every morning Louis could be seen opening envelopes with quarters and notes of appreciation from loyal customers.

For the next three decades, Daisy Brand expanded its production facilities and its distribution into the heart of America. By 1958, Daisy Brand was officially the largest interstate shipper of sour cream with over 200 markets in 32 states. This was not the only expansion the Daisy Brand family would see, as this era marked the birth of Louis’s son Burton. Burton, like his father, was a man devoted to hard work. Burton began his career at Daisy Brand by age 18, but as the United States entered World War II, Burton took a leave of absence to support American intelligence in London. Upon his return to the States, it was clear that Burton would follow in his father’s footsteps.

Over the years, Burton became an expert in dairy products. He was known to rate and grade butter just from taste alone. It was this expertise and dedication that ultimately elevated Burton from plant manager to President. Ever the tireless worker, he would catch the 5:00 am train every morning and return home in time to tuck his children into bed. Ambitious like generations prior, Burton knew expansion to an additional facility in Texas would help Daisy Brand grow larger than ever. What Burton could not have predicted was that this very decision would eventually save his family’s business from total destruction.

On one fiery night in 1972, Daisy Brand’s Chicago factory was engulfed in flames and burned to the ground. After 52 years, the only remaining piece of Daisy Brand’s Chicago history was Burton’s lucky suitcase, which stored many of the Daisy historical materials and advertisements. Though Burton could have rebuilt the Chicago factory that was home to Daisy for over half a century, fate proved it was time to move on. Burton decided to move all operations to his state-of-the-art Texas facility and never look back. With this move, so began the modern era of Daisy Brand.

By the late 70’s, a fourth generation was preparing to take the mantle. Burton’s son, David, equipped with food science and business degrees, was ready to begin his journey in the family business. David was no stranger to the Daisy business, having literally watched Daisy operations while playing with GI Joes next to the production floor as a mere child. But just as the generations before him, he would need to do some “real work” first.

David began by filling and packing sour cream cups on the plant floor. At 10 am, on his first day on the job, David found himself alone on the production floor with the Daisy second-largest customer calling to voice an urgent request. David went to Burton for advice, but when he found his busy father dealing with another matter, Burton simply raised his hands to say, “It’s in your hands now.” After resolving his customer’s issue, David knew from that moment on that product quality and customer service would be his commitment to customers.

And David delivered by putting a new focus on sour cream, moving away from the other dairy products that Louis and Morris had sold decades earlier. Though a calculated risk, this move laid the groundwork for a more focused Daisy Brand to flourish. By combining hard work, determination, and an inventive spirit, David created technologies to allow Daisy to consistently provide products that far surpassed the quality of all others on the shelf.

During late 2006, Daisy Brand launched cottage cheese, an innovative, new product 30 years in the making. While cottage cheese has been around for over a century, Daisy sought to reinvent the way cottage cheese is made. Through truly ground breaking processes, like with its sour cream, Daisy has committed itself to an all-natural, wholesome cottage cheese.

In 2008, Daisy Brand was presented the prestigious American Business Ethics award, an honor that certainly would have made every generation smile. With the fifth generation standing proudly by David’s side, it is clearer than ever that Daisy Brand continues to dedicate itself to doing right by customers and business partners alike. Though the processes and technologies have changed since the days of horse and buggy, our enthusiasm for delivering a fresh, pure, and natural product only continues to grow with each successive generation. And while the guidance and enthusiasm of Morris’s great grandson remains strong today, the family’s passion for exceptional dairy products is equally strong in the generation of tomorrow.

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