When the Cornell dairy plant was demolished last year to make way for a new, improved Stocking Hall facility, Akron, N.Y.-based ice cream company Perry’s was the immediate choice to supply the Cornell campus with the frosty treat.
The Perry family connection to Cornell goes back generations, when Marlo Perry ’35 took knowledge acquired in his dairy science classes back to the family dairy to help his father, Morton, expand the ice cream business he had started in 1932.
Marlo was the first Perry to turn to Cornell for its dairy expertise. Since then, Perry’s has relied on Cornell to provide its employees with regular training and certification in dairy foods processing, high-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurization, sanitation and food safety. Perry’s also is supporting Cornell’s development of a food processing technology degree program in partnership with Genesee Community College to further develop the New York dairy workforce.
The first phase of the $105 million renovation of Stocking Hall will be complete by late spring, with dairy plant personnel expected to move back into Stocking Hall around May 20; ice cream will begin to be produced in the new dairy plant sometime in June. Cornell Ice Cream won’t be served, though, until the Dairy Bar’s grand opening event, set for the beginning of the fall 2013 semester, Huck says, which will give the new facility the chance to build up its inventory.
The Cornell Dairy Plant therefore will continue to partner with Perry’s Ice Cream throughout the summer to supply premium New York state ice cream to the Dairy Bar scoop shop.
Source: Cornell Chronicle, Sarah Thompson