The Untold Truth Of Oberweis Dairy

If you open your fridge and find that you don't have any milk left for breakfast today, you can likely order some from your local grocery store on your favorite grocery delivery app. Or, you can hop in your car to get some. But when Peter Oberweis first started delivering milk to his Indiana neighbors, he did so in a horse-drawn wagon.

While those neighbors likely had access to stores at that time, what they didn't have was a means of keeping milk cold. Home refrigerators weren't invented until 1927, and weren't a common household item until the 1940s (via Big Chill). This meant that families who wanted to enjoy milk had to purchase and consume it fresh, unless they had access to an ice box. While convenient for keeping food fresh longer, these did have to be stocked with fresh ice frequently to keep them cool (via American History).

With the launch of the Oberweis Ice Cream & Dairy Store, the brand began offering a variety of other dairy and even non-dairy products. Chocolate milk quickly joined the dairy's lineup, as have other milk varieties, including Lactose Free, Traditional 2% Reduced Fat Milk, Fat Free Milk, and more (via Oberweis Dairy). Around the holidays, the company releases its own bottle of eggnog. Other sweet drinks are also available, including lemonade, fruit punch, and ice tea.

Alongside a large menu of classic ice cream parlor treats like sundaes, hand-scooped ice cream in a variety of flavors, malts, and shakes, customers can pick up milk, sweet drinks, pies, and other foods at each of the 43 Oberweis Ice Cream & Dairy stores. But you don't have to visit one of these outlets to get your Oberweis fix; their products are also available in many local grocery stores in the region that Oberweis serves, including Whole Foods, Target, Meijer, and regional grocery stores like Schnucks, Kroger, and Dierbergs.

In a time when many companies are looking for eco-friendly alternatives to plastic bottles and containers, including recyclable or reusable glass, Oberweis Dairy doesn't need to make such innovations. The company's milk has always been — and continues to be — sold in glass bottles. Oberweis Dairy claims that their glass bottles insulate their milk better than cardboard or plastic (via Oberweis Dairy). This means that the milk inside stays colder and tastes fresher, and lasts longer than the milk you'll find in standard plastic jugs.

This isn't a new innovation; most dairy companies once sold their milk in glass bottles. But the weight of these bottles and how easily they crack led most companies to move away from them in the 1950s and 1960s, in favor of innovative new plastic bottles that promised cheaper prices and easier transport (via Turner's Dairy). Modern plastic jugs even feature a dimple that can help keep it from breaking if you drop it. In Canada, the move away from glass milk bottles led to the development of milk bags. While the trend never caught on south of the border, it continues to be another odd Maple Leaf tradition.

Sometime around 2015, Jim Oberweis, the father of the current CEO of Oberweis Dairy, grabbed a bottle of the family's milk from a grocery store and noted that while it wasn't spoiled or expired, it didn't taste quite right. After two years of research, the company determined that their milk sold in grocery stores — which were exposed to the harsh overhead lights of the establishements — had a different taste from the milk sold in the brand's own smaller stores or through home delivery. 

This led the company to start a search for a solution (via the Chicago Tribune). They reportedly tried asking grocery stores to add amber filters to their refrigerators or to install solid doors instead of glass ones. When this didn't work, they tried covering the bottles with plastic labels, before finally settling on bottling their milk in tinted glass containers.

In 2017, Oberweis Dairy released their controversial amber-colored bottles. These utilize amber bottles, much like beer bottles, to protect the milk from the affect of fluorescent or LED lighting. But the bottles failed to attract customers, and later disappeared from store shelves (via Journal & Courier).

Oberweis Dairy isn't just expanding into new brands and restaurants; they're also constantly expanding their offerings in their stores and in grocery stores. In November 2019, the brand launched a new line of USDA-certified organic milk (via Oberweis Dairy). In order to hold the USDA distinction, the brand had to prove that their milk is produced and processed according to strict federal guidelines that regulate things like animal raising properties and use of additives (via USDA).

For milk, this means that cows weren't given hormones that help to encourage and increase milk production, or antibiotics that combat common infections (via Scientific American). Thus, organic milk is a great choice for consumers looking to limit their intake of chemical contaminants. It may have other benefits as well: Studies suggest that organic milk may have a higher nutritional content than regular milk, including having more antioxidants and more healthy omega-3 fatty acids (via The Organic Center). Organic milk may even have a longer shelf life than regular milk.

Mary Jill Conelly Oberweis was married to John Oberweis, founder Peter Oberweis's grandson. After her husband's passing in 1990, Mary was just 56 when she was murdered in her Aurora, Illinois home by Edward Tenney, a convicted serial killer (via Murderpedia).

Tenney murdered Mary on October 1, 1993, following a home invasion. Mary was found beaten and shot in the same neighborhood where Tenney had previously taken the life of another widow. Virginia Johannessen was 76 years old when Tenney broke into her home on January 2, 1993 and beat her with a hammer before shooting her in the head and chest. She was found by her brother three days later, inside of her ransacked home. Her car was also stolen.

When Tenney was finally caught, he was convicted of the murders of both widows, as well as the 1992 murder of Jerry Weber, a 24-year-old who was found shot and killed on the side of the road with a flat tire. Tenney robbed him of just $6. In 1998, Tenney was sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life in prison. The murders of Mary Oberweis and Virginia Johannessen were spotlighted on Dead of Winter in 2019 (via IMBD).

Over 100 years after it was first founded, Oberweis Dairy continues to be family-owned and operated. Today, its CEO and president is the great-grandson of founder Peter Oberweis (via Naperville Magazine).

While he didn't take over the company as CEO until 2007 (and as president in 2009), Joe grew up immersed in the Oberweis legacy. He even recalls one unique perk of growing up in the Oberweis family: His childhood home featured a refurbished Multi-Mixer, which meant that they could make authentic Oberweis milkshakes any time they wanted! He even got to make new ice cream concoctions with a variety of flavors and toppings they always had on hand.

Joe and Oberweis Dairy have big plans for future expansion. Alongside their new outlets like That Burger Joint and Woodgrain Pizzeria, those plans include the possibility of developing a national footprint and expanding their production and distribution outside of their current service areas.