Kawartha Dairy

Our Story

For over 85 years, Kawartha Dairy has been proud to be a 100% Canadian-owned company, still operated by the same family that started it back in the beginning. Although it has grown tremendously from its early days, it remains headquartered in Bobcaygeon, Ontario, where it was founded. In 1937 Jack and Ila Crowe took a leap of faith and bought a small dairy in Bobcaygeon. Jack had learned the trade while working for Oshawa Dairy but the newly renamed Kawartha Dairy didn’t bear much resemblance to that larger big city firm. At that time it consisted of a small, simple three room building, where the cold storage area was cooled with ice cut from the lake. Today Kawartha Dairy operates 16 retail stores and services a wide range of wholesale customers, from grocery stores to foodservice establishments and of course, ice cream parlours. The company also provides custom production services to other food companies, using Kawartha’s expertise in the business to produce ice cream and other specialty dairy items to the exact specifications of these firms. Situated in a bountiful farming region, the dairy receives deliveries of fresh milk daily, most of which is from the local area and all of which is from Ontario farms and it’s turned into rich and creamy dairy products within about a day of the farm. The members of the Crowe family would like to take the opportunity to thank both their loyal customers and the farmers who supply them. Without their support over the years, the company simply could not have grown and prospered the way it has.