{"id":338,"date":"2018-09-20T22:48:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/?p=338"},"modified":"2018-09-20T22:49:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:49:47","slug":"business-person-lifetime-achievement-award-ed-brandsma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/business-person-lifetime-achievement-award-ed-brandsma\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Person Lifetime Achievement Award – Ed Brandsma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passion and hard work take Edaleen Dairy from small family farm to thriving independent dairy brand and beyond<\/em><\/p>\n

Article by Tamara Anderson-Loucks<\/p>\n

originally published March 2017 in Business Pulse magazine—<\/p>\n

Ed and Aileen Brandsma, owners of Lynden\u2019s Edaleen Dairy Farm and stores, have steered their farm in many new directions during the 52 years they\u2019ve been married. The term \u201cold school\u201d cannot be applied to them. \u201cThey are innovators and early adopters of new technology,\u201d said their longtime banker and close friend Bill Irving. \u201cAnd, salt-of-the-earth people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the Brandsmas\u2019 leadership, what once was a small, family-centered dairy farm is now a thriving, independent industry powerhouse milking more than 2,500 cows. Coupling that with widespread community involvement, they have earned the Whatcom Business Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very rewarding life,\u201d Ed Brandsma said, \u201cwith a lot of ups and downs in farming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving helped them through the growth periods financially, starting in the mid-1980s. \u201cWe\u2019ve remained friends,\u201d he said, \u201cwith a common end goal to keep the business profitable and thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Passion that Spans 4 Generations<\/p>\n

Dairy farming is fused into Ed and Aileen Brandma\u2019s DNA. Aileen was raised on the farm that is now Edaleen Dairy, land owned by her family for nearly a century. Ed grew up on a dairy farm in Abbotsford, B.C. The newly-married couple took over their Lynden farm in 1964 from Aileen\u2019s father, Maurice Honcoop Jr. At that time the Brandsmas sold all their milk to Darigold, but they realized the opportunities that the farm could achieve from processing their own milk. They expanded and upgraded the existing farm and processing plant in 1974.<\/p>\n

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Edaleen Dairy, a combination of Ed and Aileen\u2019s names, officially opened in 1975 with 80 cows and 10 employees. They processed and sold Edaleen Dairy-branded milk products directly to distributors. They also established an on-site store on the Guide Meridian just below the Canadian border crossing, selling milk, half-and-half, and whipping cream to customers.<\/p>\n

The Edaleen Dairy brand gained recognition rapidly, including steady traffic from Canada, and success bred the need for expansion. In 1989 the Brandsmas constructed a new dairy facility on Depot Road in Lynden to house and milk cows. The Guide Meridian facility processes the milk and operates the original farm-site store.<\/p>\n

In 2007 management of the farm passed to the Brandsmas\u2019 son-in-law, Mitch Moorlag, but Ed and Aileen continued their involvement in the dairy\u2019s overall operations.<\/p>\n

In 2011 a family friend noticed a property for sale in Sumas and told the Brandsmas she had found the perfect spot if they were interested in establishing a line of convenience stores. The Sumas store opened on June 1, 2011. The next year Edaleen leased, renovated, and opened a third convenience store Dec. 1, on the east side of Lynden. A fourth store opened in north Ferndale last year.<\/p>\n

The convenience stores sell premium ice cream, milk, half-and-half, whipping cream, juice, butter, eggs, cheese, Ellenos Greek Yogurt, and other items. Two stores have a yogurt bar, three serve sandwiches and soup. And, they all serve the mighty popular soft-serve ice cream in various flavors, or with two flavors swirled.<\/p>\n

Five years ago, the family brought on partners. Ownership now comprises the Brandsmas, their daughter Karen and her husband Mitch Moorlag, Scott and Melissa Engels, and Kevin and Courtney Price. Today, the thriving Edaleen conglomerate milks around 1,600 Holstein cows, has about 1,600 young stock (cows under 23 months old), and employs 65 full-time and 50 part-time employees.<\/p>\n

The Rise of a Tasty Treat<\/p>\n

In 1980 Edaleen Dairy made a small amount of ice cream and sold it at the Guide Meridian store. \u201cA lot of cream is left after you separate the milk,\u201d Ed Brandsma said. \u201cSo we made some ice cream, and sold the remaining ice cream mix to wholesalers. They added their own ingredients to create their own unique flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using its cream to make and sell their own ice cream created a better profit center than selling the cream to wholesalers. So the Brandsmas expanded ice cream production in partnership with a professional ice cream maker, Tom Torgeson, who had left another dairy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTom is just who we needed at just the right time,\u201d Aileen Brandsma said. \u201cHe stayed with us until he retired about five years ago. Their award-winning ice cream is now developed by a new crew that creates the dairy\u2019s unique flavors, such as Banana Split, Fudgy Wudgy and White Chocolate Raspberry.<\/p>\n

\u201cRocky Road has always been most popular,\u201d Aileen Brandsma said. \u201cGenerally, they run their ideas by Kevin (Price), the head of the processing plant. But the ice cream crew basically is free to develop new flavors without oversight. The freedom to create gives a better end product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edaleen Dairy offers 30-40 flavors, including seasonals. About 20 percent of company sales comes from production and sales of America\u2019s most popular frosty treat at all five locations. A single scoop costs $1.25, well below the average price for a scoop of premium ice cream.<\/p>\n

Ed Brandsma said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been asked why the price is so low. It\u2019s a subject that the ownership has bounced around forever. But unlike many other ice cream manufacturers, we produce our own cream. It keeps costs down. We could charge much more, but for us it\u2019s more about the joy our ice cream brings to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a photo shoot to support this award and article, both Aileen and Ed expressed that joy as the source of their greatest satisfaction over the years \u2013 not their name on buildings. \u201cWe love offering people a place to bring their family \u2013 to come in, order ice cream, and sit down to enjoy it,\u201d Ed said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cLast summer we took some friends to the Blaine store to eat ice cream. For fun, and without identifying ourselves I asked some customers how the ice cream was. They said \u2018There\u2019s nothing better. Nothing better.\u2019 It makes us feel really good that they come for miles just to bring their families in to enjoy our ice cream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the stores stay busy and the business flourishes, the company has no plans for more expansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to do a great job managing the locations we have,\u201d Aileen said. \u201cA year-and-a-half ago we added ice cream cakes to our product offering. People love them, and there is a lot of growth opportunity there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Success Is Never Without its Challenges<\/p>\n

Building Edaleen Dairy beyond a small family farm was not without its challenges. Edaleen Dairy products are distributed throughout Washington and Western Oregon. But in the early days the Brandsmas discovered that producing and distributing their own milk was far more difficult than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you sell to a company like Darigold, they take everything you produce,\u201d Aileen said. \u201cBut when you are selling directly to distributors and wholesale customers, you need to build your herds to meet demand. And if the orders decline, you now produce more milk than you are selling<\/p>\n

\u201cManaging the herds to meet the ebbs and flows\u2014it was a huge learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed Brandsma added, \u201cIt was particularly hard to build the customer base when we were new to independent distribution and hadn\u2019t built a reputation yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the business expanded, they needed to grow the herd to meet demand. But money wasn\u2019t always readily available to buy additional cows. \u201cThere were so many good people to help us along the way and who sold me really good cows,\u201d Ed said. \u201cPeople backed us on reputation, providing what we needed, knowing they\u2019d get paid. People were so gracious. Looking back at the support we received, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aileen told how \u201csome sold us cows on low or no interest payments to help us build\u2026.you never forget that. We received a lot of God\u2019s blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Good Banker Can Make or Break a Business<\/p>\n

They both credited God, their family, their workers, and their banker, Bill Irving, for helping them weather the bad times and build the business. Irving said he connected with the Brandsmas from the start during the mid-\u201880s when Edaleen became his account, and a friendship developed that has spanned over 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill went above and beyond to help us,\u201d Ed Brandsma said. \u201cHe spent time reviewing our business plans, providing input on how to make the business work. And even when times were challenging he had faith and loaned us the money we needed to keep the dairy going, as long as he could see that our ideas were feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving said he believed in their vision. \u201cI was raised on a dairy farm, too,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew a little about the industry. They have such a passion for the business, their employees, and the quality of their products. We went through high and low times, and they would seek input in their financial decision-making. I knew I could trust them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving feels the dairy\u2019s success is attributable to Ed Brandsma\u2019s character and management style. \u201cHe allows his employees to provide input in decision-making. He\u2019s hands-on, but not controlling. And he seeks professional help, whether it\u2019s with his accountant, myself, a nutritionist, or a vet \u2013 it\u2019s a team approach at Edaleen Dairy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his son-in-law manages the farm today, Ed keeps up with the day-to-day dealings of the business, particularly on the dairy side. \u201cHe\u2019s basically a cow man,\u201d Irving said. \u201cHe takes great pride in his dairy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dedicated to Charitable Causes\u2014
\nat Home and Abroad<\/p>\n

The Brandsmas deem it important to give back to the community that has supported them through the decades. Edaleen Dairy sponsors parades and youth sports teams, and donates to numerous organizations and events. \u201cWe love Whatcom County, and are proud we can work here. We love to be invested in and support the communities we do business in,\u201d Aileen said.<\/p>\n

Their latest passion is involvement with the Gulu County Dairy Partnership through Partners Worldwide, an outreach program that teaches dairy farming in Uganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cAileen dragged me to a convention I didn\u2019t want to go to,\u201d Ed said. \u201cBut we met Wendell Van Gunst, a producer-handler and the head of the Gulu County Dairy Partnership, who told us about his program. He had a farm created in miniature \u2013 to visually illustrate his vision of building a farm in Uganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team of worldwide partners, including the Brandsmas, made Van Gunst\u2019s vision a reality. Now operational, the Ugandan dairy milks about 25 cows and sponsors university students to stay on the farm and learn dairy farming. It\u2019s become a teaching tool for the community, and its milk has won several awards. Next, the partnership will build a processing plant and teach the community how to process milk and make yogurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cUganda has rich farm lands, but they don\u2019t know how to take care of it. They didn\u2019t even have the machinery to plow,\u201d Ed said. \u201cMachinery was shipped over to help them farm efficiently. It\u2019s a very special program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming an Unexpected Recent Challenge<\/p>\n

Though the business is running smoothly, fate brought Ed Brandsma another hurdle to overcome \u2013 the \u201cbig C.\u201d Not cows. Cancer.<\/p>\n

A year ago he was diagnosed with lymphoma. The cancer was wrapped around his aorta, making it nearly impossible for him to breathe. He underwent his last four-hour chemotherapy treatment in early February. \u201cI feel good. Thankful. I have no complaints,\u201d he said, upon learning about the Lifetime Achievement Award. \u201cI feel 80-90 percent better than last year. Things look good.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a lifetime of dedication to Edaleen Dairy, Ed Brandsma\u2019s anticipated clean bill of health will allow the couple to pursue their newest passion. They plan to travel to Uganda to visit the dairy farm their support helped to build.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passion and hard work take Edaleen Dairy from small family farm to thriving independent dairy brand and beyond Article by Tamara Anderson-Loucks originally published March 2017 in Business Pulse magazine— Ed and Aileen Brandsma, owners of Lynden\u2019s Edaleen Dairy Farm and stores, have steered their farm in many new directions during the 52 years they\u2019ve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[90,91],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wba-news","tag-edaleen","tag-lifetime-achievement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.neoninspire.com\/whatcombusinessalliance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}