Cumberland Dairy had outgrown its processing plant by late 1977 and purchased a 36 acre tract of land in Rosenhayn where it built a 7,200 square foot refrigerated warehouse and a 2,000 square foot office. This new warehouse would accommodate all the refrigerated products for McDonald’s and converted the Bridgeton facility back to being a processing plant only.
In December of 2011, the company lost the man who was the driving force behind the company’s tremendous growth. Carmine Catalana III passed away at the age of 81. It was under his leadership that Cumberland Dairy went from a small local dairy, to one of the nation’s premier manufacturers of specialty dairy products.
On November 1, 2017, after operating as a successful family owned business for almost 85 years, Cumberland Dairy became part of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). As a Cooperative owned and governed by family farmers, milk marketing is at the center of DFA’s business. But just a ripple out from that main drop sits our commercial investments, which are focused on high milk utilization and delivering returns to our farmer-members. Cumberland Dairy brings extended shelf-life capabilities and decades of experience to DFA, delivering value across our network and back to our more than 13,000 family farm-owners.
In October 1932 Charles Catalana was a lamp worker at the Kimble Glass Works in Vineland, NJ. He began a part time job delivering 24 quarts of milk from the back seat of his 1926 Chrysler sedan.
Charles Catalana converts the garage at his South Avenue home into a small processing plant.
Carmine Charles Catalana III returns home from his tour of duty during the Korean War and starts a new partnership with his father and mother.
A new processing plant was constructed on the north side of Bridgeton, which opened in June 1956.
Cumberland Dairy was faced with its most serious setback to date with the passing of its founder Charles Catalana at the age of 62.
Cumberland Dairy began making milkshake mix for a new drive-in restaurant in the area called McDonald’s.
In January 1985, Cumberland Dairy began operation of the first United States installation of the DASI Ultra High Temperature Pasteurization System.
Along with the increased business came a need for further expansions at both facilities. The Bridgeton processing plant was expanded in 1989 and the Rosenhayn distribution warehouse more than doubled in size with a 1991 expansion.
Began producing full line of ESL cream products
Cumberland Dairy moved into the plant-based milk alternatives as we started production of Silk brand Soymilk at the Edward Ave. processing plant. As volumes of this product began to grow, we converted a portion of our Rosenhayn Ave. dry warehouse to a soy extraction plant.
As the Silk brand of Soymilk continued to explode, converted our Rosenhayn Ave. dry warehouse into a full production plant for soymilk only. The plant was almost at full capacity the day it opened.