AE Dairy is as Local as Local Gets

Anderson Erickson Dairy (AE for short) is a different kind of dairy. We consider ourselves not just an Iowa-based business but a part of the community. Our roots run deep in Greater Des Moines (DSM), and so does our loyalty to our friends and neighbors.

One way we show that loyalty is by accepting milk from only Iowa family farms. Every shipment we receive is tested for purity and delivered to stores within hours. Why? So that it’s the freshest it can possibly be when our customers get it home and serve it to their families.

Fresh Milk is the Name of the Game

Providing fresh milk is only the beginning of the AE story. Our fresh yogurts, dips, cottage cheese, sour cream, eggnogs and flavored chocolate milks are all made right here in DSM — probably by people you know — and a few of them have inspired a cult-like following. Like our AE Party Dip, AE Eggnog, AE Old Fashioned Cottage Cheese and so many of our seasonal yogurt flavors. Just ask anyone who’s moved away from Iowa how much they miss their favorites!

We’re not the biggest dairy out there, but we don’t want to be. Being a local dairy allows us to listen to our customers, create new recipes based on requests and the latest food trends, source premium ingredients and make new products available faster than a larger dairy could. This year, we offered Harvest Pumpkin Egg Nog and Mexican Hot Chocolate Whole Milk Yogurt, to name just two. And we’re about to debut our first lactose-free milks, NOURISH Mind & Body.

For every product we make, we follow a guiding principle: goodness takes time. We’d never put a product out there that wasn’t up to our “ridiculously high standards.” That’s why we follow time-tested family recipes, don’t ever take shortcuts on the production line and hold weekly taste tests to make sure the quality of every product is just right before it leaves the dairy.

Community Efforts

Our community is just as important to who we are as our dairy products. We partner with over 600 Iowa businesses, provide dairy to local restaurants and schools, hold clothing drives, mentor elementary students weekly, and support hundreds of organizations and nonprofits. We were the first donor to the Iowa Food Bank 35 years ago. And when two boys went missing in the 1980s, we were the first in the U.S. to put photos of missing children on milk cartons.

We are passionate about everything we do and have been since we opened our doors 89 years ago. We hope that comes through in every delicious taste of our dairy products.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership is the economic and community development organization for more than 6,600 Regional Business Members and 360+ Investors. The Partnership is a champion of the DSM USA message of Greater Des Moines (DSM) as a welcoming, diverse and vibrant community. Learn more about The Partnership’s vision of one voice, one mission as one region.