Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
When the Winder family first delivered milk to Utah homes, horse-drawn wagons would carry it from their farm into neighborhoods where drivers would scoop it fresh from tall cans into customers’ kitchen pans. Today, a sixth-generation descendant is trying to revive the brand through a deal with Instacart. James Winder, 47, announced in May that he had bought back the company from the second of two private investment groups that have run it for nearly 20 years. He’s updating the 145-year-old brand by expanding its online presence, working to allow customers to order via the popular mobile app and launching new products, like whole milk chocolate milk and the seasonal eggnog rolling out this week. “Even though it went through this restructuring period, the brand has always stood out,” Winder said. Along with his family history, “there’s a lot of nostalgia there,” he said, “so I’m very passionate about it and what we can do with it.” For now, Winder milk can be found at Smith’s Food and Drug, Harmons Grocery, Macey’s, Fresh Market, Lee’s Marketplace, Dick’s Market and Dan’s Market, as well as other local grocers, he said. He plans to sell Winder milk products in more stores to reach more customers and is working to place the company’s seasonal eggnog in several Costco locations in Utah. Winder also plans to rebuild the customer base for the company’s signature home delivery. “We won’t get it all back overnight,” he said, “but we can get a good chunk of it back within the next year and keep growing as we seek to recapture our would-be customers.” He also hopes to eventually expand its lineup — possibly bringing back items the company once offered, such as cottage cheese, aged cheeses, sour cream, yogurt and ice cream. ‘Very strong, very loyal’ customers The dairy was founded in 1880 when Winder’s great-great-great-grandfather, John R. Winder, and his wife, Elizabeth Parker Winder, began selling milk from their farm in what is now South Salt Lake. John had purchased 80 acres in 1865 that became known as Poplar Farm, where he raised a herd of purebred Jersey cattle. An Englishman, John had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Liverpool and migrated to the Salt Lake Valley in 1853, according to an online history of the business by James Winder’s cousin, Mike Winder. John practiced plural marriage, Winder said, and while he’s often credited as the founder of Winder Dairy, Elizabeth — one of his wives — and her oldest son managed its daily operations. “She’s really the one who made it happen,” Winder said. John was already a successful businessman involved in tannery, railroads, lumber and sugar, and had partnered with church president Brigham Young on some ventures. “Really more as a hobby, he bought this Jersey herd,” Winder said. Winder Dairy, as it would later be called, moved to a farm in what is now West Valley City in 1932 and entered its golden age after World War II. Utah families woke up to the familiar clink of glass bottles on the porch, delivered by uniformed delivery drivers in white caps and crisp shirts. Winder’s signature yellow trucks became a common — and comforting — sight in neighborhoods across the valley. “By the 1950s, 1960s they really became the premier brand in the state,” Winder said. “They continued with that milkman concept for many years, when everybody else stopped doing it, they continued on. They just had a very strong, very loyal customer base.” The company also delivered to homes in Las Vegas and Orange County, California, according to the online history. In 1965, Winder Dairy ran an advertisement in The Salt Lake Tribune promoting home delivery of 35 different products. “The most convenient way to buy milk, bread, eggs, and other quality dairy products is from your Winder Dairy home deliveryman,” the ad reads. Goodbye to cows — then delivery In 1973, the family-owned dairy sold its herd of Jersey cows. It began sourcing milk from other family farms raising black-and-white Holstein cows, still processing it at its own facility. Holsteins produced more milk but with lower butterfat content. Around this time, as Utahns became more health-conscious, the company shifted its focus to organic and all-natural milk free of artificial growth hormones. In 2004, the business faced industry headwinds and piling debt, so the family sold majority ownership to a Park City investment group, Winder said, with a few family members retaining minor shares and much less involvement in operations. When the investors ended home delivery in 2019, he said, the company was still delivering to nearly 40,000 households. Many Utahns were sad to see it go. Industry representatives and former customers told The Salt Lake Tribune, “We’re losing the nostalgia of the home delivery” and “It’s sad that a longtime tradition is coming to an end.” The business shifted to primarily selling its milk products in grocery stores across Utah. In early 2021, the investors sold to an investment group in the Cottonwood Heights area, he said. ‘What a special thing it is’ Winder said he became interested in buying the company from the first group of investors about 12 years ago, and he was successful in raising the capital to buy it at an agreed-upon price. But the deal was delayed and eventually fell through, he said. He fondly remembers visiting his grandparents home on Winder Lane — a tree-lined stretch of 4400 West just south of 4100 South in West Valley City, leading up to the old Winder Dairy site. One moment he’ll never forget: a first-grade field trip to the dairy. Like so many Utah kids growing up between the 1950s and 1980s, he experienced touring the dairy as a classroom tradition, he said. But his teacher didn’t realize he was part of that Winder family — not until his grandfather stepped out and gave him a big hug. He felt like “she was impressed by that,” he said, and that led him to realize “what a special thing it is — this business that our family has operated for generations — and I was just very proud of the business from that point on.” He went on to work for the dairy doing door-to-door sales for their home delivery subscriptions, but later left Utah and pursued a career in investment banking in New York City. His career eventually brought him back to Utah, and he now lives in Davis County. As the brand’s new owner, he hasn’t invested in cows — he contracts with Kroger Layton Dairy to produce Winder Farms products, and Layton Dairy sources its milk from local farms throughout Utah. He also contracts with Layton Dairy for the processing of the milk. As Winder modernizes the brand, he wants the company’s history and nostalgia to remain a central part of its identity. Marketing and messaging will honor its legacy by “drawing upon our history, our past,” he said, to show customers that, despite the changes over the years, the brand is once again proudly family-owned.
