Onondaga County declares Feb. 3 ‘Byrne Dairy Day’ to celebrate Byrne’s 90th anniversary

LAFAYETTE, N.Y. – Get ready to party like it’s 1933: Byrne Dairy – the fourth-generation, family-owned dairy producer and distributor – is celebrating its 90th anniversary.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon proclaimed Feb. 3 Byrne Dairy Day in Onondaga County to mark the milestone.

From the simple days of glass bottles delivered by horse-drawn wagons to its cutting-edge expansion into extended shelf-life and shelf-stable milk and cream, Byrne has been feeding Central New York’s families quality dairy products for nearly a century.

“We are grateful for the last 90 years and are looking forward to the future. We owe our continued success to our dedicated employees, longtime customers and our hard-working farmers. Our team continues to go above and beyond to produce a quality product,” said CEO Carl Byrne.

Founded during the doldrums of the Great Depression, Byrne has blossomed into an enterprise with three manufacturing facilities and two warehouses employing more than 500 people.

The first Byrne Dairy cash-and-carry store opened in 1954. Today, there are 69 Byrne Dairy & Deli locations across Central and Western New York, employing about 1,400 people.

In a ceremony Feb. 3 at Byrne DeWitt, McMahon commended the Byrne family and their workforce for their perseverance over the last nine decades.

“For years, as our community of Upstate New York struggled, Byrne didn’t. You stuck in there and continued to grow your operation and employ people,” McMahon said.

With Upstate New York poised for another Industrial Revolution, McMahon said, Byrne remains at the forefront of industry.

Byrne prides itself on its relationships with local family farms. More than 65 years after the introduction of its first stainless steel bulk tanker, Byrne drivers still pick up milk directly from its partner farms each day.

Among Byrne’s offerings are extended shelf-life and aseptic, ultra-high pasteurization milk and cream products as well as a variety of ice cream flavors and the popular Cookiewich®, which features Byrne’s creamy soft-serve ice cream sandwiched between two freshly baked cookies.

Byrne DeWitt, which was built in 2004 and employs 250 people, was named the 2022 Dairy Plant of the Year by Dairy Foods Magazine. The DeWitt plant now spans about 200,000 square feet. In addition to its flagship plant in DeWitt, Byrne recently completed a $25 million expansion of its Cortlandville dairy plant. Byrne also has warehouse facilities in Syracuse and East Syracuse as well as an ice cream center in Syracuse. Byrne’s corporate headquarters are in LaFayette.

Byrne invites the community to celebrate its 90th anniversary with our limited-edition “Party Like It’s 1933” ice cream flavor. Each half-gallon carton of “Party Like It’s 1933” will contain cookie dough-flavored ice cream with a chocolate cookie swirl and rainbow chips. Look for “Party Like It’s 1933” exclusively in Byrne Dairy & Deli stores later this year.

In addition, the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology will host an Innovation Station exhibit marking Byrne’s 90th anniversary. The exhibit is slated to open in late February.

To learn more about Byrne Dairy’s career openings, products and co-manufacturing opportunities, visit byrnedairy.com.