Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy

Ernest Broguiere, a French immigrant from the Alps, began the dairy by purchasing a lemon grove on Maple Avenue. When the lemon business failed to take off, he bought a Holstein cow and several hundred glass bottles and started selling milk. With his horse-drawn wagon painted with the dairy logo, he delivered milk to doorsteps, and his business expanded. In 1965, Ernest's son, Ray Broguiere Sr., t

ook over the business and made a few changes, including the painful decision to get rid of the cows. "He kept the bottles, thank God," says Ray Broguiere Jr., who took over for his father in 1975 and plans to pass on the business to his son, Chris. All the glass bottles carry the dairy's friendly logo of a cartoon cow saying, "Milk so Fresh, the Cow Doesn't Know it's Missing." Most will agree it makes the milk colder, fresher, more natural, maybe a little thicker. Or just plain better-tasting! The creamy milk-filled bottles are packed in crates and sold at the drive-thru or shipped to Southern California specialty grocery stores, such as Gelson's, Pavilions and Mayfair, and high-end Ralphs, Vons and Albertson's supermarkets. They also process organic milk in glass bottles for the Whole Foods chain in Southern California, which sells the product under its private label. Excerpted from,
MARIA ELENA GAONA | LA TIMES STAFF WRITER | NOVEMBER 06, 2001