Special Delivery: Longmont Dairy Celebrates Sixty Years

In 1965, Longmont Dairy started out with a modest bottling plant, a few cows and a simple mission: to deliver fresh milk to neighbors in Longmont. Sixty years later, the dairy remains a rare breed in Colorado – a family-owned "producer-handler" that raises its own cows, bottles its own milk, and delivers it directly to homes across the Front Range.

Now led by third-generation owners Katie Copeland and stepbrother Dan Boyd, the dairy has grown from a hyperlocal business into a modern delivery service that spans from Loveland to Castle Pines, and Golden to Commerce City.

“The statistics for third-generation businesses aren’t great, so we feel incredibly blessed and grateful for our team and our customers,” Copeland shares.

This year is the company’s sixtieth anniversary, and to mark this milestone, it’s hosting a month-long celebration at farmers' markets across the Front Range with raffles to win classic Longmont Dairy metal milk boxes and milk bottle carriers, free product samples, gifts for the kids, and more.

Catch the Longmont Dairy at the Longmont Farmers' Market on June 14, the Westminster Farmers' Market on June 21, and the Arvada Farmers Market' on June 29. For those who can’t make a market (and everyone else), Longmont Dairy is running rotating sixty-cent discounts on select products all summer long.

From Local Dairy to Front Range Staple

In the face of a rapidly changing consumer market, Longmont Dairy has been able to stay true to its roots, preserving the tradition of delivering fresh milk in glass bottles for six decades. But it’s been a constant push and pull adapting to the times.

“There was a desire to switch to plastic in the '80s, just because that's what people were doing then. But it ended up being, fortuitously, cost-prohibitive, and so [my mom and stepdad] had to stick with glass, which ended up being a blessing in disguise,” Copeland recalls.

When Copeland’s mom and stepdad managed the business back in the day, the product lineup consisted of just the basics: milk, chocolate milk, whipping cream, half-and-half and orange juice. Cookie dough was one of the only items provided by an outside vendor.

When Copeland and Boyd took over the business in 2015, they decided they needed to expand their offerings. Today, Longmont Dairy bottles an impressive array of products including handmade flavored milks like strawberry, blueberry and root beer; such seasonal lemonades as blueberry and strawberry; fresh-brewed tea; and a growing line of cold-brew coffee crafted in partnership with Boulder’s Silver Canyon Coffee Roasters. And yet, 2% milk remains the perennial favorite.
Beyond Longmont Dairy's own products, it also carries local favorites like Noosa yogurt, eggs from Eggland’s Best in Platteville, fresh bread from Castle Rock, meal kits, plant-based milks and creamers, and more. It even sells Unity Butter, which is made by an employee using Longmont Dairy's cream.

“People often say they didn’t think this kind of service still existed,” Copeland remarks. “It’s rewarding to hear how much they appreciate the reusable bottles and the simple, less wasteful delivery system.”

While there are a few other dairy delivery services still around, like Royal Crest, they use plastic bottles. Longmont Dairy remains one of the few producer-handlers in Colorado that still owns its own herd of cows and delivers fresh milk directly to customers’ doorsteps in glass bottles. And though approached by outside buyers, the Copeland and Boyd families have remained committed to independence.

“We do very little wholesale, just a few Whole Foods deliveries,” Copeland says. “We’ve definitely been mindful of competitors like Amazon and HelloFresh, but I think what we offer is unique and special enough that the competition hasn’t had a major impact on us.”

Behind the Barn Doors

Behind the scenes on the farm in Loveland, the company's 600 dairy cows are milked three times daily. Milk is collected each morning by tanker and brought to the Longmont bottling plant, where it’s processed Monday through Friday before beginning its journey to customers.
The delivery routine is a finely tuned operation. Customers leave their Longmont Dairy cooler on their doorstep, where the dairy delivery person places their products and covers them with shaved ice. A week later, customers rinse and return their reusable glass bottles to the milk box and the milkman returns to collect them. They are then brought back to the plant, professionally cleaned, sanitized and reused – sometimes up to thirty times.

“The customers often tell us that the milk tastes better in glass bottles, but it's also highly eco-friendly,” Copeland notes.

Another part of the brand’s commitment to the environment is its recyclable caps, part of the “Milk Caps for Moolah” program that's contributed over $750,000 to local schools.

Carrying on the Legacy

Longmont Dairy is planning a plant expansion in the next few years to increase capacity for newer products, like the popular teas, and to better serve its growing customer base.

“We’re really focused on expanding within the footprint we already have and continuing to develop new products,” Copeland explains. Although ideas like introducing yogurt or ice cream bases have been discussed, the emphasis remains on thoughtful growth.
Family and community remain at the heart of the operation, with a workforce of about 180 employees between the bottling plant and the farm, several of whom have grown with the company from entry-level roles to management positions.

Behind it all, there is a deep sense of responsibility.

“I feel honored. I really feel like God has blessed our family with this amazing opportunity,” Copeland shares.

“Even in 2025, with all the technological advances, we still maintain an old-fashioned, family feel. We answer the phone ourselves, we don’t have automated systems or millions of prompts before you can talk to a real person," she adds. "My grandfather has passed away, but I hope he would be proud of what we’ve accomplished."

To sign up for Longmont Dairy's delivery service, visit longmontdairy.com.