Reiter Dairy, LLC

After World War I, Ralph Reiter, who was a master baker, moved from his home in Rochester, Pennsylvania, to Akron, Ohio, where he set up a bakery. After a short time, he sold the bakery and turned his talents toward invention, creating the predecessor of what is today's gasoline gauge for automobiles. Ralph Reiter then followed what was to become the family destiny, and entered the butter business as Miller-Maid Creamery. The plant was on Forge Street in Akron, and later moved to Exchange Street near Grant Street in the heart of downtown.

In the 30s the trend was away from butter and toward fluid milk production. Not to be left in the past, Ralph Reiter and his son, Harold, founded Reiter Dairy February 8, 1933 on Sumner Street across from The University of Akron. Times were hard. Milk sold for eight cents a quart. But the little dairy grew, nourished by employee pride and enthusiasm. The Reiter's relied periodically on infusions of capital from close friends and even suppliers to enable the company to meet the Saturday night payroll -- or to pay for a load of oats for the horses.

Ralph Reiter's inventive skills were then put to work in his Dairy. He pioneered the use of cellophane to cover the tops of milk bottles; and he invented an applicator to place rubber bands around the covering. Reiter Dairy was the first to use the homogenization process in Akron, and it was then called "Mello-Milk." The Dairy business in the 30s and into the 40s was all home delivery in glass quart bottles. The horse barn was several blocks away, and it was not uncommon for the horses to make the trip from the dairy plant all by themselves after unloading at the end of the work day. A development considered very big at the time was the use of rubber shoes on the horses and rubber tires on the wagons to cut down on neighborhood noise.

Following World War II, the sale of milk in stores became all the rage, as did paper containers as a convenient way to sell milk in grocery stores. Akron's first supermarket was established on West Exchange Street and Reiter began to develop its store sales, using PurePak containers.

During the 1950s and 60s, Reiter grew by acquisition. Acquiring more than 20 dairies around northern Ohio, Reiter expanded into refrigerated and frozen food products and even developed a chain of convenience stores. In 1982, the company acquired a milk plant and distribution center from Lawson's which was located in Springfield, that enabled the company to expand its marketing area into Southern Ohio. In 2001, the acquisition of Dean Foods by Suiza Foods Corporation of Dallas, created a "...national geographic footprint," according to Gregg Engles, Chairman and CEO. The two companies merged to become a national dairy and specialty goods company which today operates more than 120 plants in the United States and Spain, employing approximately 29,000.

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