Ideal Dairy
Ideal Dairy was formed in 1931 as a private company by a group of dairy farmers, which included: Lloyd Gifford, Lyman Gifford, Stanley Bagg, Edgar Pascoe, Harold Werry, Clarence Werry, R. Bennett, and others. At its outset, the dairy had four employees.
The milk processing plant began from a building on 293 Mary Street North, and they began with 4 delivery wagons. In 1947, they moved to larger plant at 110-112 King Street East. Through the years, the business continued to expand, and another move was made to 390 Ritson Road North in 1958.
Over the years, Ideal took over a number of smaller dairies: Gimbletts Dairy (Oshawa) in 1942; Ajax Dairy in 1963; and, Oshawa Dairy in 1967. With the purchase of Oshawa Dairy, Ideal became the largest and only local dairy left in Oshawa.
Ideal Dairy Products sold the business to Beatrice Dairy in 1970, and the name remained Ideal Dairy Products until 1975 when the name was changed to Beatrice Foods.
In his book, What Happened to our Milkman, John A. Konarowski stated, “During my interviews with many people it became obvious that the success of the Ideal Dairy was due to the astuteness and foresight of their management.”
I worked there as a mechanic 80s it was still referred to as Ideal Dairy, the garage where I worked used to be the horse stable made over to repair vehicles
My Time at Ideal Dairy
I started at Ideal in April of 1969 and was hired by Doug Hart. I had a wholesale route in Toronto. I started with one store account. I kept the truck in Toronto and returned to Oshawa daily to deposit my cash and reload with next days milk requirement. In the beginning my day consisted of about 3 hours work. Eventually as accounts increased I would leave the service station where I parked my truck at 6:30 am and return with next days’ inventory by 6pm. It was a great time in my life and really enjoyed time at Ideal and later Beatrice.
Thanks for sharing your memories!
Ideal Dairy first in Canada for bagged milk
I am Murray Bagg, grandson of Stanley Bagg, I am trying to find information on when Ideal Dairy was the first dairy to introduce bagged milk to Canada, I remember they had used American machinery. Other companies out west Canada had tried bagged milk but the bags would fail
Thanks for the question! According to John A. Konarowski in his book, What Happened to our Milkman, Ideal started producing milk in bags in 1968. According to info from the CBC, “A wire story in the Globe and Mail in April 1969 noted that more than 50 dairies across Canada had adopted “plastic film pouches,”
The CBC info is: https://www.cbc.ca/archives/when-ontario-dairies-started-selling-milk-in-plastic-bags-1.5207174
And: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/we-answer-your-burning-questions-about-things-like-milk-bags-tariffs-condo-insurance-and-printer-cartridges-1.5409407/here-s-why-milk-comes-in-bags-in-parts-of-canada-1.5409420
Ideal Dairy cardboard sewing needle promotional item
I remember the milkman delivering milk to our milk box located in the side wall of our house when I was a child.
I have a cardboard folded sleeve in the shape of a dairy delivery truck that contained sewing needles from Ideal Dairy that my mom passed on to me. It must have been a promotional item. Would anyone be interested in having this?
Thanks for the comment, and what a neat item to have! The Oshawa Museum has a few examples of these sewing kits in our collection, so we would not be looking to add any more at this time, but we always appreciate it when people reach out with an offer of donation!
Thanks again, and all the best!