{"id":16586,"date":"2015-04-09T11:17:40","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T15:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/04\/kings-brothers-dairy-100-plus-years-old-will-have-its-own-on-site-bottling-plant.html"},"modified":"2015-04-09T11:17:40","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T15:17:40","slug":"kings-brothers-dairy-100-plus-years-old-will-have-its-own-on-site-bottling-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/04\/kings-brothers-dairy-100-plus-years-old-will-have-its-own-on-site-bottling-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Brothers Dairy, 100-Plus Years Old, Will Have Its Own On-Site Bottling Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jan, left, and Jeff King, own Kings Brothers Dairy in Schuylerville, which soon will be bottling its own milk in a new 10,000-square-foot facility on the farm\n<\/div>\n
A Schuylerville dairy plans to expand distribution \nof its fresh milk and other products \nto homes, restaurants and retailers from \nHalfmoon to Queensbury–and possibly beyond– \nfollowing the opening of a new bottling \nand processing plant.<\/p>\n
Jan King, who owns Kings Brothers Dairy \nwith his brother, Jeff King, said the plant– \nthe first farm-based bottling operation in \nSaratoga County–will open later this spring.<\/p>\n
Construction has been completed on the \n10,000-square-foot facility, in a former barn \non the family’s Kings Ransom Farm on Bacon \nHill. Sanitary equipment, including the tanks, \ncream separators and bottlers, are being \ninstalled.<\/p>\n
“We’ll have everything in here in a few \nmonths and at that point we’ll be looking to \nsell half-and-half, heavy cream, condensed \nmilk, skim milk, whole milk, chocolate milk– \nthey will be the first products we attempt,” \nJan King said. “That is stuff we are doing right \nnow but it is done off the farm. We are going \nto bring it all back here, so we will have all \nthe control from milking the cow to putting \nit right in the bottle.”<\/p>\n
The 800-cow Kings Ransom Farm has been \nin operation for more than 100 years, and was \nin the dairy business, under the brothers’ \ngrandfather, great uncles and father–former \nNorthumberland Town Supervisor Edgar King \nJr.–until the early 1960s.<\/p>\n
But the current, fourth-generation owners \nare taking an entrepreneurial approach \nto production and distribution that should \nmean significant growth and job creation in the coming years. King said at least three new \npeople will be needed with the plant opens, \nand as many as 15 new jobs could be available \nwithin five years.<\/p>\n
The goal is to build recognition of the \nKings Brothers Dairy name and make branded \nproducts a bigger part of the business. At the \nmoment, 90 percent of milk produced on the \nfarm is sold through the Dairy Farmers of \nAmerica Cooperative, and is therefore subject \nto the supply and demand of the market.<\/p>\n
King said producing and selling more of its \nown product will give the dairy better control \nover pricing. That will be particularly useful \nin a year like this one, when prices are falling \ndue to oversupply. As of March 30, milk \nfutures were down nearly 13 percent from a \nyear earlier.<\/p>\n
“Dairy pricing has its ups and downs,” King \nsaid. “Hopefully this will allow us to level our \ncosts to be able to have better times through \nlow prices.”<\/p>\n
The farm currently delivers milk, beef, \ncheese, eggs, yogurt, and about 200 other \nproducts made by itself and other local manufacturers \nto 500 homes, from Halfmoon to \nQueensbury, every week. King joked that it is \n“very much like a farmers market on wheels.”<\/p>\n
It also serves restaurants in Saratoga \nSprings and Ballston Spa. King said that \nonce the bottling plant is up and running, the \nbrothers hope to expand their wholesale business \nto include additional restaurants, including \nsome in the Glens Falls market, as well \nas retail stores. Once they have penetrated \ntheir current market, they may expand further north and south.<\/p>\n
“We have had requests from Colonie, \nLatham,” King said. “But at this point we’ve \ndecided to try to gain more customers in the \narea that we’re in before we spread out further.”<\/p>\n
Jan and Jeff King operate the farm with their \nwives. Jeff’s wife, Becky, handles the finances \nfor the farm and dairy. Jan’s wife, Pandora \nDavis, is a veterinarian who operates a private \npractice while also tending to the animals on \nthe farm. Between them, the couples have five \nchildren who help out after school, on weekends \nand during the summer.<\/p>\n
When they were growing up on the farm, the \nbrothers would hear stories from their father \nand grandfather about delivering milk around \nSaratoga Springs.<\/p>\n
“We had old milk bottles in cases, some in \nthe garage and some in the barn, and there \nwas a sense of nostalgia,” Jan King said. “So we \nalways thought, ‘wouldn’t that be neat to do?'” \nThey started out selling frozen beef to \nfriends and neighbors. It was very popular, so \nabout five years ago they decided to add fresh \nmilk to their offerings.<\/p>\n
“We started out with just home delivery and we got a great response,” King said. “People \nloved our product and the fact that it was delivered. \nSo we were able to grow our business, with \nboth home delivery and restaurants around \nSaratoga and Ballston. That has enabled us to \ninvest in a place to bottle our own milk and do \neverything right here.”<\/p>\n
He declined to say how much the business \nis investing in the project, which got underway \nlast summer. It did receive grant support from \nboth Empire State Development and the U.S. \nDepartment of Agriculture.<\/p>\n
Once the processing operation is up and \nrunning, the brothers plan to move the small \nretail store that currently sits out in front of the \nfarm into the new building. Viewing windows \nwill allow customers to watch products being \nmade and packaged, driving home the idea of \nfreshness and quality.<\/p>\n
“People have been very receptive to what \nwe do,” King said. “I think they appreciate \nknowing that when they are buying their milk \nit comes from our farm, they are supporting \na local business, and they really enjoy doing \nthat as well as having a great quality, great \ntasting product.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jan, left, and Jeff King, own Kings Brothers Dairy in Schuylerville, which soon will be bottling its own milk in a new 10,000-square-foot facility on the farmPhoto \u00a92015 SaratogaPhotographer.com BY BARBARA PINCKNEY A Schuylerville dairy plans to expand distribution…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":21962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[57,98,113,119,121],"class_list":["post-16586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","tag-business-news","tag-new-businesses","tag-saratoga-county","tag-schuylerville","tag-shopping"],"yoast_head":"\r\n
Kings Brothers Dairy, 100-Plus Years Old, Will Have Its Own On-Site Bottling Plant - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\r\n