Turkey Hill Dairy, or simply known as Turkey Hill, is an American brand of iced tea, ice cream and other beverages and frozen desserts distributed throughout the United States and internationally. The company, which is headquartered in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, was owned by Kroger since 1985 until it was sold to private equity firm Peak Rock Capital in 2019. The company is operated independently from Turkey Hill Minit Markets, a chain of more than 260 gas station convenience stores that carry Turkey Hill products in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. In 2011, Turkey Hill opened The Turkey Hill Experience, a attraction based in Columbia, Pennsylvania that pays homage to Turkey Hill’s history while highlighting its ice cream and iced tea-making processes.
Turkey Hill Dairy
History
Turkey Hill Dairy began in 1931 during the Great Depression, when farmer Armor Frey began selling bottled milk to neighbors from his sedan. Frey's family obtained the farm directly from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and the sheepskin deed to the farm refers to "turkeyhill". Turkey Hill Ridge had been given its name by the Conestoga Indians for the wild turkeys found there, so the family decided to name their dairy after the name on the deed and the nearby geographical feature. Armor sold the dairy to sons Glen, Emerson and Charles Frey in 1947. Milking the cows and delivering milk to customers provided these three families with a satisfactory income. In 1954, the dairy began making ice cream, which sold well in Lancaster County, and in 1981, they started selling the ice cream through a few independent stores in Philadelphia. Turkey Hill quickly began to expand into New Jersey and up the East Coast. In the early 2000s Turkey Hill's products were distributed in places further west, such as Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Over the next few years, Turkey Hill rapidly expanded its distribution area, and its teas are now sold in 45 states and the ice cream is now sold in 43 states.
Ownership and Leadership
The dairy and the stores were sold in 1985 to Dillons, a subsidiary of Kroger. Despite the new ownership, the Frey family was heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the company, as Charles Frey, the youngest of company founder Armor Frey’s sons, remained as president. Charles was succeeded as president by Quintin Frey in 1991. On May 28, 2013, The Kroger Company announced Quintin Frey’s retirement.
Wind Turbines
In 2011, Turkey Hill partnered with PPL Renewable Energy and the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority to purchase the electricity generated by two General Electricwind turbines on the Frey Farm landfill adjacent to the company’s manufacturing facility. The wind turbines are capable of producing enough power to supply 25 percent of the company’s annual electricity demand.
Products
In 2012, Turkey Hill Dairy produced of ice cream, of iced tea and other drinks and of milk. Since 2000, Turkey Hill has been among the nation's top-selling brands of refrigerated iced tea and, in 2011, was the fourth-largest producer of ice cream, after Nestlé, Unilever, and Wells' Dairy.
Ice Cream
Turkey Hill produces 72 full-time and Limited Edition flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sherbet available in, sizes and sizes for use by ice cream shops. Specific product lines include Premium Ice Cream, All Natural Ice Cream, Stuff’d, Light Recipe, and No Sugar Added, in addition to frozen yogurt and sherbet.
Iced Tea
The Turkey Hill Iced Tea lineup includes more than 20 seasonal and full-time flavors. Traditional flavors are made with a manufacturing process that includes cold bottling, cold shipping and cold storage in stores.
Other Beverages
Other Turkey Hill beverages include fruit drinks, milk, drinking water, and egg nog distributed during the Christmas and Easter seasons.
The Turkey Hill Experience is a attraction based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that pays homage to Turkey Hill Dairy’s history while highlighting its ice cream and iced tea-making processes. It opened in June 2011 and is located in Columbia, Pennsylvania, just six miles from the company’s main production facility in Conestoga, Pennsylvania.
Displays and Exhibits
The Turkey Hill Experience includes a variety of interactive displays aimed at entertaining both children and adults. In addition to learning about Turkey Hill Dairy’s history and the iced tea and ice cream manufacturing processes, visitors can also make their own virtual ice cream flavor, an experience that uses green-screen technology to allow visitors to star in a Turkey Hill TV commercial. An exhibit called the Turkey Hill Taste Lab, opened in June 2013, Allows visitors to bring their virtual ice cream creation to life, a hands-on, educational experience where you develop and taste the flavor you created.
History
The Turkey Hill Experience is located in a former Ashley and Bailey silk mill, part of which was originally built in 1899. The location had several owners and uses in the decades that followed, before being abandoned after the Tidy Products company stopped using it as a sewing factory in the late 1970s. The building was vacant for more than 25 years before Turkey Hill began to work with a developer to repurpose the building. This former silk mill should not be confused with the nearby Ashley and Bailey Company Silk Mill in West York or the Ashley and Bailey Silk Mill in Marietta, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
