Scholl Dairy still a family operation

MICHIGAN CITY — Milk is definitely long in the bloodlines of Steve Scholl, who while growing up helped deliver milk in glass bottles from the dairy his family owned.

He's now in his 50th year as president of Scholl Dairy, and was honored this summer by Michigan City Mayor Ron Meer, who proclaimed June 28 as Steve Scholl Day in the city.

Steve's grandfather, Peter Scholl, founded the company in 1883. Peter, the son of a German immigrant and a Civil War veteran, started with a dairy farm and sold the milk door-to-door from a bucket and ladle on a wagon.

Nowadays, the company strictly distributes milk and ice cream from Dean Foods along with ice cream from Good Humor mostly to convenience stores, independently owned grocery stores and institutions like small public and private schools and nursing homes.

The company was founded in the Mill Creek area in eastern LaPorte County. In 1912, it opened a bottling plant in the city of LaPorte and added milk purchased from local farmers to its own milk production for processing.

Then, in 1931, the company relocated to a new bottling plant in Michigan City at Franklin and Homer streets.

In 1963, Scholl Dairy stopped milk production all together to focus on delivery. It has been at its present location on Indiana 212 on the east side of Michigan City since 1971.

''You can't run a plant and bottle 2,000 gallons a day and compete against plants that bottle 100,000 gallons a day. The economics aren't there,'' said Scholl, who in February of 1965 bought the company outright from his brother and cousin after they chose to get into the soft drink and beer distribution business.

In 1981, the company stopped home delivery of milk in glass bottles when demand for the service gradually diminished from the emergence of larger companies shipping more of the beverage in plastic containers to major store chains.

Scholl, 71, said the days of home delivery were his most enjoyable during his long run in the dairy business because of the camaraderie he enjoyed with customers.

He knew most of his customers on a first name basis and often walked back to his delivery truck with a chocolate chip cookie or some other freshly baked good handed to him by one of his customers.

Scholl Dairy delivered mostly to homes in LaPorte, Michigan City, Westville and places in between but also brought milk to places 10 to 20 miles away from its prime service area like Rolling Prairie and just across the border in cities like New Buffalo and Sawyer.

''Best days of my life. I loved it,'' said Scholl.

His son, Terry, is now part-owner of the company and the likely successor if Scholl, who is semi-retired, ever chooses to step away from the business all together.

Thirteen people work at Scholl Dairy these days.

''It makes you feel good that it's still there. It's been tough at times. It's a tough thing to do to keep a small, family-owned business going that many years, but it makes you proud in a way,'' said Scholl.