Ronnybrook Dairy Delivers Beyond Expectations

Ronnybrook Farm Dairy is an average sized New York dairy farm (100 cows) that connects with its customers, both commercial and individual, through transparency, consistency, and creativity.  They’ve been selling at the Greenmarket since July 4, 1991, and are continually experimenting with new flavors and products (be on the lookout for Greek yogurt at the Greenmarket!), as well as searching for ways to lessen their environmental impact.

Ronnybrook re-uses their glass milk bottles, which are made with such thick glass that only one glassmaker in the entire North American continent can make them!  Ronnybrook even designed their plastic bottles to be a number 1 plastic to make them easily recyclable — most milk bottles are 4s or 5s.

As someone who returns my milk bottle back to the stand, I’ve often wondered what happens to the bottle after it leaves my hands.  Ronnybrook’s delivery trucks do double duty — bringing full bottles of milk into the city and returning empties to Ancramdale, NY. Here, the used empties are loaded with new bottles into the bottle washer. The machine holds 16 cases of bottles at a time, giving the bottles a chemical bath, a rinse, and then a final sanitation.  The bottles are then immediately sent down the conveyor belt to be refilled.  If any bottles are left unfilled at the end of production, they must be rewashed the next day.

Ronnybrook’s daily production puts my most productive day to shame.  The entire walk-in cooler (much larger than most of New York City apartments) was completely filled with milk that had been made that day: skim, low fat, whole, heavy cream, half and half, and chocolate, all in a variety of sizes and containers, including a few I hadn’t seen before:

•    Half gallon plastic bottles: Next time you see a Fresh Direct truck driving through your neighborhood, take a closer look.  Many of the trucks’ sides show a glass bottle of Ronnybrook Milk.  In reality, there isn’t a matching glass bottle inside the truck:  Fresh Direct only takes these half gallon plastic containers.

•    Menden Creamery Butter:  I’ve seen this butter in grocery stores like Fairway, without knowing that it’s actually Ronnybrook butter under a private label!  Menden Creamery was started by a woman from Massachusetts who originally learned how to make butter at Ronnybrook’s facilities.  She then took her newfound skills back to Massachusetts and made butter for 5 years.  When she moved, she asked Ronnybrook if they wanted to take over her business but maintain the separate label.

Coming up Next: 

Your common questions answered, including what percentage of milk bottles actually get returned…and all about their infamous cow mattresses!

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