Growth
The Producers Creamery of Carlinville of 1938 differed greatly from the current Prairie Farms. Over the past 70 years, the dairy cooperative has grown largely by merging with and buying other dairies. The first such merger occurred on January 1, 1954, when the company bought the Community Dairy of Alton, Illinois. This acquisition benefited the Producers Creamery of Carlinville greatly in many ways. The Community Dairy of Alton received four million pounds of milk per year from forty producers and had annual sales of approximately $250,000. The Producers Creamery of Carlinville continued to use the Community Dairy name on all glass-bottled products produced by the facilities in Alton.[7]
March 1, 1962 marked a major change for the Producers Creamery of Carlinville. After merging with Prairie Farms of Western Illinois, the Prairie Farms Dairy of Carbondale, Illinois, and the Producers Dairy of Danville, Prairie Farms Dairy Incorporated was formed. The new company distributed products throughout the middle of the country and was more financially secure than the three companies were individually.[7] The merger was initially named Prairie Farms Creamery of Carlinville but later it was renamed Prairie Farms Dairy.[11]
In April 1969, Prairie Farms created the PFD Supply Company, a company designed to produce nondairy products for fast food restaurants. This decision was profitable for Prairie Farms, bringing in three million dollars annually by 1978. PFD Supply manufactured and distributed almost all of the food and paper products used by McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Dairy Queen, and many others.[7]
Another notable acquisition consisted of the purchase of the Chamberlain Ice Cream Company located in Lafayette, Indiana, and the Vix Ice Cream Company with locations in St. Louis, Missouri, and Marietta, Georgia. On August 1, 1969, Prairie Farms created Ice Cream Specialties, Inc. in conjunction with the purchase of the two companies. Ice Cream Specialties mainly produced ice cream novelties, or small, individually packaged ice cream treats, which Prairie Farms thought would bring in sizable revenue during the summer months. The purchase cost Prairie Farms about $2 million, and the company predicted ice cream novelty sales would pay for it within ten years. However, Kroger opened an ice cream novelty plant soon after in Indianapolis, reducing sales by 30 percent.[7]
By 1979, the company was the result of 36 dairy purchases, nine mergers, and two joint ventures, and those listed previously are only a few of the many that occurred. The businesses purchased by the cooperative varied greatly, from distributors to ice cream producers. Prairie Farms acquired dairies with sales ranging from $250,000 a year to $7,000,000 a year, and the reason for the purchase ranged from the acquisition of a competitor's customer base to gaining new facilities with modern technology. The total amount paid for the mergers and acquisitions up until 1982 was more than $10 million.[7]
