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Ag News
UNL Dairy Store Destination for Many
Published Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 05:11 AM
Willers developed a liking for the rich, candy-like taste of butter brickle when he was only 4 or 5. Now 61, he still craves it but has had trouble finding it -- until he contacted the Dairy Store. "I thought it was something in my life that was gone," he said.
Butter brickle is one of nine flavors of ice cream that UNL's popular store features every day. Bryan Scherbarth, the store's retail manager, attributes strong sales of the store's ice cream to "the specialness of the product. It's different from other ice cream."
Scherbarth, who came to the store four months ago after spending more than a decade as a manager at the now-closed P.O. Pears in Lincoln, doesn't want to give away any secret recipes. But he says the store's ice cream is richer than most other ice creams and is more natural, without the preservatives found in more commercial ice cream.
The Dairy Store, a part of UNL's Food Processing Center, has a broad customer base way beyond UNL students and faculty and neighboring residents, he said.
"This place has become a destination," Scherbarth said.
Willers, who has homes in Pierre, S.D., and Reed Springs, Mo., has made it his destination. He had looked in local grocery stores and even contacted a nearby ice cream manufacturer to find butter brickle only to learn the flavor had been discontinued.
He researched the Internet and found the flavor too far away that cost $9 for a half gallon. He then contacted the Dairy Store, which he frequented as a UNL business and economics student in the mid- to late-1960s.
Willers asked store personnel to reserve eight or nine half-gallon containers. Then on a trip last spring between Pierre and Branson he drove more than 100 miles out of the way to pick up the goods, packing it in dry ice. Now down to only two containers, Willers is hoping to make another trip to Lincoln for more ice cream later yet this summer when he drives between his two homes again.
Ice cream is the biggest seller at the Dairy Store in the summer, with cheese being a bigger seller in the winter, Scherbarth said. The store typically serves 120 to 200 gallons of ice cream in the store every week in addition to the sales of its half-gallon containers. During the week of July 4, the store sold over 450 gallons.
Later this summer the store plans a few changes to its product line and operation. Cheese now only sold in bricks will be sold sliced and shredded and stored in larger coolers in the lobby.
The store has purchased a larger single-unit cooler with six doors similar to those found in grocery stores. Some rearranging will be required in the store's lobby during the installation of the coolers.
Another change will be the offering of more structured tours of the dairy plant, Scherbarth said. Group tours ranging from schoolchildren to senior citizens occur nearly daily, and currently the tours are led by whichever employee happens to be available at the time.
Now, a dedicated tour coordinator has been hired and will put together a tour guide staff consisting of alumni and current students from the Department of Food Science and Technology. A standardized script will be used for the tours.
Tours of the Dairy Store, Scherbarth said, are increasingly being offered by off-campus tour groups that book tours for people interested in learning more about Lincoln. The tours are being combined with visits to UNL's new International Quilt Study Center, he said.
The store, located on Dairy Drive on UNL's East Campus, is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
The Dairy Store is part of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which also includes UNL Extension, the Agricultural Research Division and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. A 2007 study by an independent organization found IANR annually returns at least $15 in benefits to Nebraskans for every dollar of state support, making it a primary engine for economic and social sustainability (http://atworkfornebraska.unl.edu).
© 2008 The Nebraska Rural Radio Association. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- © 2008 Rural Radio Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.