® (Continued from Page B 2)
dairy seem to prove that, by
keeping the two traditional flavors
in business. “When it comes right
down to it, the vanilla and
chocolate flavors sell the best,”
Reid stated. The dairy’s top seller
is chocolate butterfudge. People
also travel for miles for some of
the other favorties like rocky road,
coconut custard and coconut nut
fudge.
It takes 10 to 15 minutes to make
a 10-gallon batch of ice cream.
Reid explained that in the summer
the plant makes ice cream four or
five times a week, while in the
winter three days a week are
scheduled for ice cream produc
tion.
A trademark of the Blair County
dairy is the round plastic half
gallon containers in which the ice
cream is sold. The cost is almost
twice as much as other packaging,
but Reid believes so far it is the
best “I tried switching to card-
Q board, but we found the plastic
w keeps the ice cream tighter and
preserves it longer.”
Reid has taken courses in ice
cream, milk testing and produc
tion at Penn State. He also studied
accounting for two years.
“Whoever runs a small dairy must
be top of everything. Another key
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DATE
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PLACE
OUR STORE • APAMSTOWN. PA
★ Door Prizes * Lunch Served At Noon
10% OFF PARTS
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JAN. 24 to JAN. 29
DAMSTOWN EQUIP., INC.
Box 456 Adamstown, Pa. 19501
Phone: 215-484-4391
Blair Co. daily
is to have good employees,” ad
vised Reid. He feels that he is
fortunate to have the 25 full-time
and 8 part-time workers he em
ploys at the plant. Some of the
people have dedicated 30 years to
the dairy.
Reid believes that the fact his
employees are non-union has
helped the plant to survive.
“Looking down the road, I feel that
could be our biggest enemy if we
ever ran into that situation,” he
admitted.
Ritchey’s Dairy puts milk into
five school districts. Those large
accounts are important, but the
door-to-door home deliveries are
more dependable for the small
plant. However Reid says that
doesn’t always mean more money.
He believes a small plant must be
prepared and not build its business
entirely on large wholesale- ac
counts that can be lost to larger
dairies.
Many changes, not apparent to
outsiders, have taken place over
the past ten years. As the current
owner-manager tells it, he has
attempted to eliminate the dairy’s
weaknesses. The cold room was
enlarged for extra storage; the
plant doubled its processing to 800
gallons an b our; faster machines
to package the milk, automatic
TIME
AM A 7 PM
cleaning system, rewiring, a new
tank truck, and a new well, were
added.
"I was building towards a more
efficient milk plant to stay in
business longer,” he stated. Some
once a. week deliveries and milk
processing cut from seven to four
days a week are also economic
measures taken by the dairy.
Reid hopes to keep the dairy in
the Ritchey family. He prides
himself in coming up through the
ranks and the personnel
relationship he has with each
Keep warn without going broke
LANCASTER - Pennsylvania’s
home heating season has begun. If
you are low on cash and need to
conserve what you have, a good
place to begin is with your tome
beating bills. Joseph L. Wysocki,
Extension housing specialist at
Penn State, offers these tips on
how to keep the money in your
pocket and the cold outside:
At night, set your thermostat
back to 55 degreees. During the
day, wear several loose layers of
warm clothing and set your
thermostat between 65 and 68
degrees - the lower the better. If no
one is at home during the day,
before you leave turn the heat
down to 55 until family members
■
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, ianuary 15,1983—83
employee. He says he likes it that
way. Don’t look for the dairy to
change much m the years to come.
Ritchey’s Dairy believes it has
what the people want: a small
dairy that caters to them as
neighbors, friends and individuals.
“Any business that doesn’t con
tinue to grow can hurt itself,
however I like it the size we are,”
admits the businessman. “We
don’t want to grow too fast.”
He remembers twenty years
ago. Penn State projected that by
return home after school or work.
However, if you have very young
children or elderly people at home,
you need to be more careful about
turning down the heat because
they are more likely to get sick
from being cold.
Turn off the heat in rooms you
don’t use and close them off from
the rest of the bouse. If your house
is large, consider living in less
space for the winter.
Plug holes and cracks in the
walls and windows. Feel for drafts
around light switches, electrical
outlets, window and door frames,
and innocent-looking cracks in the
walls.
Shut the outside vents if you
have a fireplace. Use the flue
damper. If the weather is very cold
and you know your damper is not
awfully tight, think about making a
fireplace closure to cover the
entire opening. Then, save your
fires for warmer weather because
too often the heat from your house
goes up the chimney along with the
smoke.
Wrap the hot water pipes
coming from the hot water heater.
If the area around your hot water
this time there would no longer be
home delivery milk routes.
“Basically their forecast came out
right, with the exception of this
company which is stronger in
retail than 20 years ago. ”
You must realize that Ritchey’s
is not an ordinary dairy. It’s a
business that each Christmas
season makes mint ice cream.
Why? According to the owner, the
simple reason is because a fellow
church member requests it.
heater is cold, consider insulating
the heater as well.
Caulk and weatherstrip your
doors and windows. Even though
you have storm windows and
doors, if these are not perfectly
sealed, heat leaks are robbing you
of comfort and cash.
Stuff insulation around the top
of you basement wall at the sill
plate. The area between the
ground level and the basement
ceiling can let in a lot of cold.
Insulate your attic and install
■storm windows if you have none. If
this is not possible to do this
winter, put a layer of plastic over
the windows and close off your
attic until spring.
Have your heating unit
checked to be sure it is running
properly and tuned to operate
efficiently. If your system has
filters, clean or replace them
regularly. If not, now’s the time.
Remind your family to dress
for winter. Jackets, sweaters, long
underwear, wool socks feel better
and even look better this time of
year than do bare feet, skimpy
shirts, and lightweight fabrics.
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