OK, Anderson, say ‘cheese’

Hot weather and blowing sand are about the only things remaining from Las Vegas circa 1907 when Harry Anderson first lugged cold milk to customers.

That, and Anderson's name on the marquee of the dairy he founded 100 years ago.

Since Anderson started the dairy a century ago the business has changed dramatically.

It moved from a site on Charleston Boulevard across from what is now University Medical Center to the current location north of Cashman Field. It changed hands several times, adapted to industrialization when owners in the 1950s built one of the most technologically advanced dairies of the time and expanded routes from whatever drivers could deliver twice daily in horse-drawn carts to a distribution network that covers the Las Vegas Valley and goes to Southern Utah.

In the 1970s, the dairy's owners even jettisoned the cows they owned in favor of buying milk from outside sources.

But Anderson's legacy lives on, most noticeably in the name but also in the historic pictures that line the hallways of the current Anderson Dairy headquarters on Searles Avenue, a street named for one of the families that owned the business.

Anderson Dairy is thriving, even as people nationwide drink less milk, by diversifying its product line and benefiting from growth in Las Vegas.

The Southern Nevada growth will help Anderson with upcoming expansion plans, but it is also attracting more competition to the market.

"The bigger Las Vegas, the more attractive it is for others to come," said Dave Coon, vice president of sales and marketing for Anderson.

Coon, 56, is a member of one of two families behind the privately held dairy corporation. His brother, Doug Coon, 54, is vice president of operations at Anderson. They work with company President Harold Bellanger, the principal owner. Bellanger is the son-in-law of Kenny Searles, a former owner who bought the dairy in the 1930s from Anderson.

Searles, Bellanger, Dave and Doug Coon's father, Glen Coon and former secretary-treasurer George Mimms were among the folks who led the dairy through its greatest surge of growth and upgrades from the 1940s through the 1980s.

Growth in Las Vegas and the arrival of refrigeration technology that was well-established elsewhere in the country helped the dairy grow from its roots. Drivers no longer had to make multiple runs or use ice and burlap to cool milk in transport.

"Good refrigeration didn't get to Las Vegas until the '50s," Coon said.

When it finally did arrive, Anderson Dairy capitalized. In 1956 the company built a new, 37,000 -square-foot facility at the current Anderson site on Searles Avenue.

It also kept adding customers. Anderson doesn't disclose financial results. But Coon said business is divided roughly evenly between commercial and retail customers.

Anderson has dairy contracts for resorts on the Strip such as Wynn Las Vegas, Tropicana, Riviera and Boyd Gaming Corp. and Station Casinos properties, among others. The company employs about 220 people.

Anderson Dairy has done well to survive industry consolidation and changing consumer demands, said David Phillips, editor of Dairy Foods magazine in Bensenville, Ill.

"Per capita consumption has been down and down and down for 30 years," Phillips said.

The decline of consumption and rise of industrialization have both contributed to consolidation in the industry. Dallas-based Dean Foods has led the wave of consolidation.

He said rampant growth in Southwestern communities such as Las Vegas provides an opportunity for Anderson to remain relevant.

Anderson also sells more than milk.

It produces cottage cheese, whipped cream, sour cream, buttermilk, condensed milk, ice cream, half and half and specialty products like eggnog. It also distributes butter, eggs and national brands of yogurt and ice cream treats.

Instead of getting milk from its own herd, the dairy now imports most of its product from farmers in Delta, Utah, about 300 miles from Las Vegas. The milk arrives by truck and can be processed, packaged and delivered within 12 hours from the time it leaves the cows, said Debbie Farnsworth, Anderson Dairy production manager.

During the holidays the dairy receives about 12 single-tanker trucks daily, each with about 6,000 gallons of milk, and five double-tankers, each with about 10,000 gallons. The milk is tested, piped into the plant, homogenized, pasteurized and piped to different parts of the dairy depending on what it is used for.

Anderson is planning more expansion. Coon said Anderson owners hope to build a warehouse on a 10-acre, company-owned site south of Searles Street. The company also recently bought buildings along Las Vegas Boulevard adjacent to the dairy.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or (702) 477-3861.