How does a family business that started from the ground up stay viable in today’s marketplace of large competition and cutthroat attitudes?

As Purity Dairies shows, it takes a leader who was strong from the beginning and a commitment to go with the flow without sacrificing integrity and quality.

Purity Dairies’ roots are as a family company, and although it was acquired by Dean Foods in 1998, it still maintains a family-like atmosphere, says President Mark Ezell.

The company was started by Miles Ezell, Mark’s grandfather, in the late 1920s in Nashville, Tenn. With a rented 200-acre farm, one delivery truck, a few dozen cows bought on credit and one route, Ezell began to compete with Nashville’s existing 200 dairies.

The company changed locations many times and merged with other dairies, but by 1945, it had solid ified its location and begun to be known for the quality products it still produces today.

Mark Ezell worked his way up the company starting at age 15, working the home-delivery routes, then moving to sales, to marketing and ending up at his current position as president.

He stresses that his grandfather set the tone of the company, and because of the past generations’ leadership, Purity Dairies is able to back up the quality for which it is known.

Ezell is fully aware that many companies preach their mission for quality and service, but he insists Purity Dairies works to fulfill that promise. The company still follows the sound advice of its founder when he said, “The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price is gone.” Since the beginning, the company has worked to make its products better than the rest. Miles Ezell was the originator of many innovations, such as refrigerated tanks on dairy farms; vacuum pasteurization, which keeps the onion flavor out of milk; and non-wax milk cartons. He even pioneered the idea for the company’s yellow jugs, which resulted from a discovery that light negatively affects milk. “Quality and service can’t just be the opinion and the sales pitch,” Mark Ezell says. “We literally have a different level in quality, people and service.”

Another of founder Miles Ezell’s quotes that is well known throughout the company is, “In order to succeed, think big, dream, work hard and be honest.” Mark Ezell believes the way the company reacts to its customers, employees and competitors must be translated throughout the business, and Purity has decided to react in an honest and forthright way. It offers an unconditional guarantee on all of its products because it believes in backing up its promise of quality. “Although it is hard to have a handle on everything, honesty and integrity are the only controllable things you have when managing a business,” Ezell says.

Purity holds to the belief that if it does not keep its promises, people will not be back; one such promise is to take extra care in ensuring quality. In addition to the unique milk jugs and quality processes set by the founder, the company spends 30 days making its buttermilk culture instead of purchasing a pre-made culture set.

“We may not be the cheapest, but we provide good value day in and day out,” Ezell says. “Basically, it is true that you get what you pay for. You can’t do the best quality and have the lowest price, because it takes money to do it right.”

He explains that the foundation behind the company’s high quality is its work force. When Purity reached its 75th anniversary in 2001, it decided to explore the number of families that have worked in the business. Ezell explains that 13 different families each had almost 75 years of experience with the company, and there was also a large number of second- and third-generation workers comprising the 600 people in the Purity family. One father brought his four sons to work at Purity.

“We have truly quality people,” Ezell says. “It really speaks to the unusual nature in which we do business, proving that quality is the difference in all we do.”

Purity did not lose its family-like atmosphere when Dean Foods acquired it in 1998. Ezell recalls there was a lot of consolidation in the industry at the time, and it was a good time for Purity to find a strategic partner. Purity went with Dean Foods because of its track record of allowing the existing management teams to continue to work while still successful.

“There is now an increased emphasis on the local division providing the best in quality and service,” Ezell says. “Dean’s has really pushed the decision-making to the local level.”

Purity’s current plans for growth include distribution gains in channels such as foodservice. “We were fortunate to have nice growth last year,” Ezell says. This included the introduction of its strawberry milk in a pint container, significant growth in tea sales and a sales increase in lemonade due to the reinstatement of the paper container half-gallon size. He also notes that a number of sizes of the company’s line of spring water had “good and solid business.” FAD