It was 1900 at Chris and Matilda Toft’s family dairy farm situated along then-rural South Hayes Avenue near Sandusky, Ohio where Toft Dairy began. The family sold raw milk to area customers for a time, and then acquired a horse and wagon to haul large milk cans full into the city of Sandusky. There, Chris and Matilda would sell by the dipper or fill large family-size containers customers brought to the wagon.
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The 1935 purchase of Oswald Dairy’s retail operations formed the foundation of Toft Dairy as it is known today. Milk pasteurization began. Regular wholesale and retail customer routes were established and increased in number as Toft’s business grew. This expansion was fueled in part by the family’s stated vision for their fledgling enterprise: Growth Through Hard Work. Five years later, that growth moved the dairy to larger facilities – and a new product line. 1940 saw the Toft family move operations to Adams Street in Sandusky. Three new trucks were added to their dairy fleet. A new ice cream production line was installed along with an old time soda fountain. |
 During the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s various family members retired and, sadly, passed away. Toft heirs, Carl and Edna Meisler, subsequently acquired sole ownership of the dairy. The ‘60s and ‘70s brought Toft’s continued growth, and with it new products and packaging, plus the purchase of more equipment and the acquisition of more land. |
In 1965, the company bought Otto’s Dairy and moved to West Monroe Street. Three years later, Toft’s became the first area dairy to introduce plastic gallon milk jugs. The dairy’s growth continued. Toft’s then built a 64,500 square foot plant at the corner of Venice Road and Edgewater Drive in 1985. Growth required expansion again in 1993 and once more in 2003 to today’s 76,000 square foot modern, high-tech operation. Toft Dairy is the only locally owned and operated dairy on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo, and the oldest operating dairy in the state. Toft’s delivers products to over 200 schools plus 1,500 wholesale and retail customers. The company purchases its milk from 22 local family dairy farms– all members of the Sandusky Cooperative Milk Producers Association. The milk is free of synthetic growth hormones. The family owned and operated dairy is now over 109 years old. Today, as in past years, Chris and Matilda Toft’s descendants continue growing the dairy by staying true to their ancestors’ original vision: Growth Through Hard Work. |
Toft DairyHistory
