Business

Udderly shocking: NYC dairy dries up

(
)

Got milk? No longer.

New York’s largest dairy distributor shut its doors and laid off 140 workers last week after its milk supplier cut off its shipments, The Post has learned.

Beyer Farms, the 70-year-old Jamaica, Queens-based distributor of Tuscan brand milk, was “several million dollars behind” on its payments to Dean Foods, the country’s largest milk supplier.

“It’s unfortunate. We’ve been working through this with them for a couple of years,” said a Dean spokesman, adding that it had reached the point where Dean had no choice but to stop shipping product.

While Dean has taken over deliveries to some of Beyer’s larger customers, smaller customers could find their milk supply has dried up.

Beyer’s abrupt closure on Dec. 11 came as a “complete shock,” according to one worker.

He said while employees knew the company was in financial distress, it hadn’t warned them that their jobs were in jeopardy.

Most of those modern-day milkmen were members of the Teamsters union, who were earning an average of $50,000 a year, he added.

Henry Beyer, who took over the business from his father, did not return calls.

The privately held company, which started out as a single farm in Maspeth, Queens, tripled in size in 2003, when it gained Tuscan milk distribution in New York.

Dean is able to deliver to some of Beyer’s national accounts with a New York City or Long Island presence because it has those customer lists.

But it doesn’t have a list of retailers that Beyer serviced through its wholesale business, which could lead to milk shortages for those customers.

In addition to Tuscan Dairy, Beyer distributed Tropicana, Poland Spring, Organic Valley, Silk Soy Milk and Red Bull to outfits ranging from bagel shops to office buildings.

Beyer did not process or package milk for Dean and as a distributor was able to set its own prices. Still, the business may have been squeezed by rising dairy prices.

Beyer bought milk from Dean at a cost that fluctuated with commodity prices, possibly making it harder for it to maintain its profit margins, according to one source.

Deutsche Bank said in a report that dairy prices were up 4 percent nationwide in its December checks, rising at four out of five retailers, compared with September.

Typically, supermarkets sell one organic and one non-organic milk brand. The leading non-organic brands are Dean’s Tuscan and Farmland Dairies, owned by Mexico’s Grupo Lala.

Dean is focusing on its regular milk business. Earlier this month, it agreed to sell its Morningstar Foods business to Saputo Foods. In October, Dean spun off its natural- and organic-foods unit, including Horizon Organic milk, as a new company, called White Wave.

The Beyer worker speculated that Dean might want to increase margins by squeezing out regional distributors such as Beyer.

A Dean spokesman said changes to its business had no impact on its decision to stop shipping to Beyer.