Another dairy is being sold. LuVel Dairy Products Inc., based in Mississippi, was aquired by Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., Carlinville, Ill.
LuVel currently has over 225 employees and operates about 100 routes or distributors in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. LuVel President Jimmy Briscoe and his brother, Richard, who is LuVel’s vice president, will remain at the helm of the Kosciusko operation. Briscoe said the LuVell name will also remain on products from the Kosciusko plant.
LuVel opened in July 10, 1919, as the Kosciusko Creamery. In 1930, the creamery’s owner, Z.O. Graham, held a contest to give the company a new name. The name chosen was a combination of names from Graham’s daughter, Lucinda, and his wife, Velma – LuVel.
Prairie Farms is a cooperative that is owned by 773 member farms throughout the South and Midwest. Its products come from 36 plants and subsidiary companies in Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska.