A 4th-generation family business, Madison Dairy Produce Company has been in operation since 1906 and at its current site since 1928.
The dairy, located at 1002 E. Washington Avenue, is now one of only a handful, where just 40 years ago there were over 200. Chuck Steinhauer, Madison Dairy Vice President credits their ability to survive and compete in today's market by " ... being on the technological edge and running an efficient operation. "Normally a dairy of our capacity occupies twice the space. We have a 45,000 sq. ft. facility. Our geographic location for dairy is excellent and transportation access is good for getting the product in and out."
A challenge for the dairy given its small footprint is the severe limitation to storing their inventory. "We can hold less than a 3-day supply at our site," said Steinhauer. "We are a butter operation and produce 10% of the butter in the country under 200 different labels to customers in every state east of the Mississippi. We expect sales this year of $150 million. We currently employ a workforce of 75. We foresee moderate growth in this industry.''
Besides the constant upgrading of the Madison Dairy over the years, the office and production area here expanded by 12,500 sq. ft. in 1990 and 1991. Chuck Steinhauer: "This was done at a cost of more than a million dollars. We made this kind of investment because of our commitment to our customers and the City. We're lifelong residents of Madison. We appreciate the City and realize we're in a good neighborhood. It's our desire to be good neighbors and to help maintain the area."
A dairy in a residential area and across from an elementary school presents certain challenges. In an attempt to resolve them, acting on requests from TLNA's Mifflin Corridor Subcommittee as well as individual residents, Ald. Barbara Vedder arranged a meeting with dairy officials. In the interest of a more complete discussion as well as better information, TLNA invited the Police and Transportation Departments. Chuck Steinhauer; "I thought it was a pretty good meeting. We appreciated the opportunity for 2 way communication. We've instituted, as of August 4, mandatory appointment times at the dairy. We would like to meet again in 4-6 weeks with our neighbors to see if this is having the results we hope for, elimination of traffic congestion in the area for residents and improvement of waiting times for our customers, vendors and haulers. We would encourage neighbors to call us at 256-5561 (after hours press 5 if problem involves a tanker, 6 if a semi) if there are problems that we can address. We want to be good neighbors!"