Turkey Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Turkey Hill Minit Markets is a chain of Pennsylvania convenience store/gas stations. A sister company, Turkey Hill Dairy is a dairy processor in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, selling their fresh milk products in Pennsylvania, and their ice creams and drinks from Vermont[1] to Florida[2] and as far west as Ohio.[3] They have always been separate companies, but with the same ownership.
In 2003, Turkey Hill Dairy produced 26 million gallons of ice cream, 24 million gallons of iced tea and 13 million gallons of milk, and since 2000, Turkey Hill has been the nation's top-selling brand of refrigerated iced tea.[4]
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[edit] Start of the dairy
Turkey Hill Dairy started in the Great Depression, when farmer Armor Frey would set off daily in his sedan to sell a few bottles of milk to his neighbors.[5] Frey's family had obtained the farm directly from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and the sheepskin deed to the farm refers to "turkeyhill".[5] Turkey Hill Ridge had been given its name by the Conestoga Indians for the wild turkeys always found there, so the name of the dairy was a natural.[1]
Slowly, his milk route grew, and in 1947, Armor sold the dairy to sons Glen, Emerson and Charles Frey. Milking the cows and delivering milk to customers within a few miles provided three families with a satisfactory income.[5]
[edit] The first Minit Market
In 1967, Charles and Emerson opened the first Turkey Hill Minit Markets store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as a way to better market their dairy products.[6]
The stores operated as a separate business[7] - Farmland Industries - with the headquarters in the original store basement. In 1978, they built their current headquarters at 257 Centerville Road, Lancaster, in Manor Township
On December 19, 1974, the stores won a legal battle overturning the so-called blue laws that prohibited retailers opening on Sunday, and in 1976, they became the first company to offer self-service gasoline in Pennsylvania.[6]
In 1980, the dairy started making ice cream, which was received well, and in 1981, they started selling through a few independent stores in Philadelphia.
[edit] Kroger buys Turkey Hill
Both the dairy and the stores were sold in 1985 to Dillons, a subsidiary of Kroger.[7]The family wasn't completely out, though; Quintin Frey, Armor's grandson, is now president of the dairy.[4]
The Frey family farm continues to milk 1,100 cows twice a day. Their farm adjoins the dairy; milk used to literally be pumped to the plant. A cooperative of farmers within a 25-mile radius, including the Freys, now sell 120 truckloads of liquid milk to the Turkey Hill Dairy each week.[4]
[edit] Competition
In 1979, Turkey Hill Minit Market purchased 36 Louden Hill stores. In July, 1985, they purchased a number of 7-Eleven stores and six Ideal Markets. Turkey Hill Minit Markets overwhelmingly was the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania convenience store, and in some cases, stores were located as close as three blocks apart. In the 1990s, Turkey Hill and competitors Sheetz and WaWa entered each other's home turf, as if a tacit understanding that they wouldn't compete with each other had had expired. John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil commented on the new situation in sworn testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in March 2006:[8] "We are seeing healthy new retail competition emerging with brands such as WaWa, Sheetz, and Turkey Hill."
[edit] Branding changes
In 2004, the stores adopted the current signage, featuring a stylized 48-state U.S. map. Kroger also owns the Kwik Shop chain in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, the Loaf N' Jug Mini Marts in Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming, Quik Stop Markets in California, and Nevada, and the Tom Thumb Food Stores in Florida, and Alabama.[9] Kroger hasn't indicated any plans yet to consolidate the marketing for their 800 convenience stores, but a new vice-president, Van Tarver, was named in June 2006 to oversee their convenience store and petroleum division.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ a b About the Dairy
- ^ Pennsylvania Dutch Country has a home in Florida
- ^ Giant cow visits Toledo
- ^ a b c Turkey Hill Dairy supplies ice cream to much of the East Coast
- ^ a b c Dairy history
- ^ a b Minit Market timeline
- ^ a b Kroger buys Turkey Hill Dairy and Farmland Industries
- ^ John Hofmeister testimony
- ^ About Fred Meyers
- ^ Kroger Promotes Tarver To Vice President Of Its Convenience Store And Petroleum Division
