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2310 Mission Street
Salem, Or 97302
Phone: (503) 362-2401
Curly's Dairy website: www.wilcoxfarms.com/profilecurly.html
Curly's Diary was originally built in 1925, in the old part
of Salem on Hood Street. There, Mr. Hans (Curly) Hofstetter
converted an old garage into a milk processing plant. A larger
addition was built onto it prior to World War II.
In the late 1950s, Curly's took over the Timber Valley facility,
located 50 miles south of Salem in Lebanon, Oregon. It still
serves as a warehouse and distribution center.
Curly's moved to their present Mission Street location in
1960. It is an ideal location for them, accessible to a highway
running north and south, and another one running east and
west.
Curly's gets their milk from Wilcox Family Farms in Roy, Washington.
They package approximately 80-100,000 gallons of milk during
each four-day week. And they are one of the few dairy facilities
left still offering home delivery. During World War II years,
when gas was being rationed, Curly's took the engines out
of their small fleet of delivery trucks and used horses to
pull them instead. Today, a fleet of 16 home-delivery trucks
distributes milk to 7,000 homes twice a week.
Curly's Dairy boasts a large product line - including pizza,
steaks, frozen food products, etc. They also bottle and distribute
juice. But their main focus is still milk.
Although Curly's is best known for their home-delivery service,
this only reflects 20% of the total milk business. Most of
the business remains wholesale to grocery stores.
Curly's products are well-known for their quality. On all
Curly's products is the statement "Quality Checked."
Quality Checked is a recognition out of Naperville, Illinois.
They have a quality assurance laboratory there that tests
and assures that Curly's products are meeting their highest
standards. This organization was started back in the late
1940s. Curly's products are inspected by them since Curly's
Dairy is a family-run establishment that is an integral part
of Salem.
Written by William Glennen
Bibliography:
Kirk Hofstetter was interviewed by William Glennen for this
story on 12/4/2002
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