Business and Finance, Arts and Culture
go through CohenPublished: March 29, 2023
We dig into the archives to find historical facts about Long Island’s unique drive-thru.
Favorite place to buy bread and milk (and eggs) on Long Island? A dairy farm of course! The red drive-thru farmhouse convenience store still exists on Long Island, originally as an extension of a failed dairy farm before it was bought by the corporation. Below we introduce some crazy historical facts about the Dairy Barn.
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In 1939, Swiss immigrant Edgar Cosman purchased East Northport’s Oak Dairy Farm -
Cosman was originally sent to America by his businessman father to work in his company’s factory -
Young Cosman was trapped here when World War II broke out -
When the farm he bought started losing money, he put his son Dieter in to fix it -
Dieter turned the milk farm around, but people quickly started losing interest in delivering milk, so he had to figure out a way -
1961 Dieter expands wholesale milk business and opens drive-thru retail chain; Dairy Farm is born -
The stores have all looked the same for years, with a barn-shaped store, small red silos and two covered driveways -
This is the first drive-thru convenience store on Long Island -
At its peak, there were approximately 70 Dairy Barns throughout Long Island -
51 dairy farms in 2015 -
Company President Hari Singh was Tell According to The New York Times, “Dairy Barn is as far away as you can get from a supermarket experience.” -
In the same article, Kim Martin, a clerk at the Syosset branch, said: “We see at least 10 people a day in their pajamas.”of
Support the Dairy Barn ad for Sesame Street. Video: YouTube
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The Oak Tree Dairy factory suffered a devastating fire in 1997, luckily no one was killed -
It took a year and $11 million to rebuild, according to New York Times -
At the time, oak trees produced approximately 21.8 million gallons of milk per year -
The Cosman family eventually sold their original dairy farm to a developer -
37-acre property transformed into a 55+ apartment community -
according to untapped new york siteIn 2010, Mike and Aegina Angeliades, father and daughter from Long Island, took over Dairy Barns and renamed it The Barn as part of a rebrand -
Their company, Simi Enterprises, has taken over 38 existing locations -
People on Long Island still call them “Dairy Barn” -
There are other similar looking convenience stores that Long Islanders commonly call a Dairy Barn, although they are not -
The Barn’s Drive-Thru Business Idea well done During the epidemic -
The Barn reportedly merged with a company called Greek From Greece around 2019 -
Greek From Greece reportedly expands into New York through merger with The Barn, introducing an expression concept -
exist time Thirty locations will be converted to Greek From Greece Express model locations, called GFG Express, the company said -
Greeks from Greece start By selling private label Greek imports in stores -
Company website lists 23 GFG Express Place in long island -
according to a ReportGFG to return store to Simi Enterprises in November 2022
A timeline of Dairy Barn milk bottles. Photo: Dary Barn website.
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Simi recently put 17 former Dairy Barn properties for sale -
Entrepreneurs are buying or leasing these properties and turning them into Dairy Barn-like drive-thru stores -
The owners of Simi plan to continue to run several stores themselves, including those in Huntington and St James -
Founder Dieter Cosman is an avid diver and shell collector -
His shell collection includes 117,000 specimens -
The series culminates in scientific research and genius Occidental College after his death
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