Tucked into the far side of the University’s campus, the Dairy Store has been serving student-made milk products at its current location since 1956.
And despite recent budget cuts, the Dairy Store has managed to keep up with daily demand for ice cream cones, shakes, coffee and other products, as well as bulk orders for the University’s two dining halls.
Gary Hay, director of the School of Animal Sciences, said the Dairy Store operates more efficiently because of the loss of state operating funds.
“We have lost some labor because of budget cuts, and we’ve had to generate more income,” Hay said. “Our revenue is up well over 50 percent in the last two years. The store is spending more of that revenue operating the units.”
Charles Boeneke, associate professor of animal science and Dairy Store manager, said the store has eliminated two positions because of budget cuts.
“Cuts haven’t affected student workers,” Boeneke said. “Our main focus here is teaching and research for students.”
Hay said the store has worked to better promote products and students have responded well.
“Everything we make goes back into operating the facilities, both the dairy farm and the store,” Hay said.
Boeneke said the Dairy Store supplies dining halls with about 50 three-gallon containers of ice cream per week, and sells about 300 to 500 cups or cones a day in the store.
The store sells ice cream in cups, cones and three-gallon containers.
Hay said half-gallon containers were sold in the past, but funding for the size isn’t available at this time.
“Those containers have to be bought 5,000 at a time,” Hay said. “That’s about a little over $3,500. Probably once the new fiscal year starts, we’ll buy more.”
Boeneke said the store decided to re-order 3-ounce cups instead of half-gallon containers because they are more popular.
“When we bought the cups, we had to get 50,000 of them, which is about $4,000,” he said.
With many streets leading into campus blocked off during the school day, the store recently extended its hours until 5:30 p.m. to encourage more off-campus customers.
In addition to ice cream products, the Dairy Store also sells cheese and meat.
“For the cheese we make here, we pick a month out of the year [and] we make the cheese for the whole entire year at one time,” Boeneke said. “We sell a lot of meat here, too. Some of the things you might not find in a grocery store, like goat or lamb.”
Morgan Juncker, kinesiology freshman, said Dairy Store ice cream is better than supermarket ice cream because it’s fresh.
“It’s cool that this is on campus,” Juncker said. “It’s a good idea since it gets hot here, and it’s really convenient. I really didn’t know they had meat here.”
Sylvia Page, Dairy Store clerk, said she likes working with people in a place that is a part of a community.
“It helps people majoring in this field to gain experience and do service for the community, but for me this is my real job,” Page said. “I get to help people and interact.”
Boeneke said 16 flavors are available for customers in the store, and about 16 more rotate out.
“Some of them we’ve been making since the beginning of time. Some of them students decide to try out,” he said.
 
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Contact Morgan Searles at [email protected]