Local Dreamview Creamery has made its mark in the Raglan community by providing locally produced dairy products in reusable glass bottles.
Dreamview Creamery manager, Jess, is the 25-year-old daughter of Dreamview farm owners Dave and Bronwyn, and is managing the business that supplies nearly 7,000 litres of A2 milk a week.
Jess brought home the idea for the Creamery while she was studying for a Bachelor of Agriculture at Lincoln University. During her studies she worked at the Lyttleton Farmers Market selling pasteurised milk in glass bottles, this sparked an idea that her family farm could do something similar in Raglan.
The 300-acre Dreamview Creamery Farm is located on the hills above Raglan overlooking the Tasman Sea and Whaingaroa Habour.
"We never would have known what was to come when Mum and Dad bought the farm, but Waikato is the best place we could have been to start Dreamview. The support from Raglan means a lot to us, it's been incredible," says Jess.
Dreamview Creamery offers home deliveries five times a week and provides milk to cafes and shops in Raglan, Hamilton, and Tauranga with their six delivery trucks.
All products are packaged in reusable glass bottles to decrease the number of plastic containers thrown out yearly. Once a milk bottle is finished, Dreamview customer's leave the empty glass bottle ready for collection and receive another full bottle on delivery.
"My favourite part of the business is the people and the impact that we have on our customers with our sustainable packaging," says Jess. "It's really cool to see how passionate people are about wanting to make a change."
Dreamview is currently creating its own yogurt and plans to sell it in a glass bottle similar to the current milk bottles.
"We have been playing around with making yogurt. There is not really any other milk-based yogurt that is packaged in glass so it's exciting because we love challenging ourselves to find alternatives to plastic."
What makes Dreamview different is their raw milk, straight from the cow, there is nothing added or taken away, creating a creamy taste.
"Eventually one day we really want to make cheese because Mum loves making cheese. But that is a whole other ball game."