Milk by any other name... Dean Foods heads into logo change

Blue Bunny logos on milk and cultured dairy products from the Le Mars milk plant are being phased out.

Dean Foods purchased the milk plant in January 2008 from Wells' Dairy, Inc. Wells' Dairy officials chose not to sell the Blue Bunny logo, however.

"Dean Foods is migrating to the Land of Lakes label," explained Dean Foods' spokeswoman Ellen Barry. "The products are the same - Iowa milk - and it's the same plant, the same people working in the plant."

The changeover will be done in phases, Barry said. Different products will have their labels switched at different times. The process is just beginning.

"Over time, all the products at the Le Mars plant will have the Land O' Lakes label," Barry said. "Nothing has changed but the name."

Dallas-based Dean Foods is the largest milk and dairy product processor and distributor in the United States, with products sold under more than 50 familiar local and regional brands like Land O'Lakes, plus many private labels.

Along with licensing the Land O'Lakes brand, Dean Foods owns the Horizon Organic brand of milk and is the maker of Silk, the nation's leading refrigerated soymilk, Morningstar Foods, and Hershey Milks and Milkshakes, among other products.

Land O'Lakes products are sold throughout the Midwest.

The Blue Bunny label is not extinct.

Consumers will still be seeing plenty of the bunny on ice cream and frozen novelty products made by Wells' Dairy.

The company has honed their focus to center on the cool treats, seeking to increase Blue Bunny's rank as an ice cream brand.

The Blue Bunny label has been appearing on milk and other dairy products since 1935, when a Sioux City man submitted the name in a naming contest for ice cream made by the Wells family.

Blue Bunny was well-known and loved.

"Blue Bunny was a hometown thing," said Sonny Athens, of Le Mars. "There was nobody who came to town and sold anything else."

He said he always drank Blue Bunny milk, and he'll keep drinking the milk produced in Le Mars, now under the Land O'Lakes label.

"With the new label it tastes just as good," he laughed.

He didn't think the label change would have much effect.

"I think there was enough publicity when Dean Foods bought the milk plant that people will recognize it," he said.

Duane Herman, who drove a milk truck for Wells from 1972 to 1997, had similar thoughts.

"As long as they keep the product as good as it was, they'll be fine," he said.

He remembers very positive reception to the Blue Bunny label during his years hauling milk to Spencer five days a week.

"It outsold anybody," he said.

Bob Grosenheider who also delivered Blue Bunny dairy products years ago remembered that same bunny fame.

"Blue Bunny products were excellent products," he said. "It almost sold itself."

Ron Delperding worked at the ice cream and milk plants for around 40 years. He has a collection of all the Blue Bunny logos throughout the years.

"When we first moved to Le Mars, they delivered milk to homes," he remembered. "When they backed away from delivering to houses, we were like, 'Oh no, not in Le Mars.' But without change I don't think anybody can grow."