From home-delivered glass milk bottles to nationally distributed on-the-go milk produced at a rate of 400-plus bottles a minute. A Model T delivery truck to a fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles. One route driver to 2,860 associates nationwide. One Irish immigrant operating a small dairy to one Arizona family operating a business serving customers nationwide. That’s the story of Shamrock.
“While many things have changed since my father established Shamrock Dairy in 1922, three things remain the same and are the drivers of our growth: an innovative approach to business, an unrelenting quality in people and products, and a strong commitment to the community,” said Norman McClelland, chief executive officer of Shamrock Farms.
Over the past nine decades, Shamrock Foods Company (parent company of Shamrock Farms) has embraced new technology and introduced new products. This is demonstrated even as early as 1926, when Shamrock Farms became one of the first dairies to meet requirements of the new pasteurization process. Within the past decade alone, Shamrock Farms revolutionized the on-the-go milk category, opened its educational public Farm Tour, launched Arizona’s first local organic milk line, achieved national distribution, and created the first chocolate milk fortified with protein for sports recovery.
Shamrock Farms has also introduced sustainable practices companywide, including water stewardship via its wastewater pre-treatment system at its manufacturing plant and a farm manure management system and recycling program whereby manure is used as a natural fertilizer at local farms.
This approach to business extends beyond the dairy with its sister company Shamrock Foods, a foodservice distribution company offering 16,000 line items including Shamrock Farms dairy products. It serves the Southwest via warehouses in Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Shamrock Farms long-standing contribution of 80,000 pounds of food to Arizona food banks every month and support of more than 80 non-profit organizations every year are testament to the company’s community commitment, as are its sponsorships of both Arizona State University and University of Arizona’s athletic programs.
Shamrock employees have been with the company an average of nearly eight years with 255 associates celebrating between 20- and 40-plus years.
For more information, visit www.shamrockfarms.net.
