This is Our Story

We are dedicating our lives to provide the freshest most wholesome farm to table products in the area.

How We Came To Be

Dan and Debbie’s Creamery

This is the story of Dan and Debbie Takes. Two Iowa dairy farmers committed to building a sustainable farm and modern day dairy processing facility in Ely, Iowa. With the help of their children, they have dedicated their lives towards providing the freshest, most wholesome farm to table dairy products in the area.

After over a decade of raising beef cows on their small farm outside of Ely, Dan and Debbie were ready for a new challenge. Their love for cows and desire to grow their farm led them down a path to consider becoming dairy farmers. After building various barns and a milking parlor, they slowly grew their Holstein herd from 30 to 150 cows. It was only a few years into dairy farming that the family became very intrigued with the idea of producing farm to table dairy products.

After years of researching small farmstead dairy processing facilities, the family decided they wanted to produce their own farm to table dairy products. Some might say that the stars slowly aligned after the former Vavra Lumber Company went on the market in Ely, Iowa. It didn’t take long for the family to see the potential that building had. The location was simply perfect, being less than five minutes from the farm.

In 2013, they purchased the old lumber yard building and the renovations began. In-between the morning and night milkings, the family spent all of their free time making the necessary changes to the building in order to have it ready to produce value-added dairy products. Nearly three years later, on July 20, 2016, the family made their first vat of cheese using the milk from their own dairy farm.

Today, the Creamery is home to squeaky cheese curds, handcrafted ice cream, and cream top milk. The family has big plans for further product expansion in the future.

Dan and Debbies Creamery - Dan and Debbie Takes
  • Fresh from the farm taste.
  • 100% All Natural.
  • Single-source.
  • Premium ingredients.
  • Family owned and operated.
  • Locally produced.

Learn More About Us

Check out the Farm and the Creamery

The Farm

Dan and Debbies Creamery

The Creamery

Dan-Debbie's-Bottling

Meet Our Team

It’s a family affair!

Dan Takes
Owner

Dan is the head cheese! He’s the one with all of the ideas and he’s the one that makes it all happen. When he’s...

Debbie Takes
Owner

Debbie takes on more roles than anyone else at the creamery or on the farm. Not only does she take on the role of...

Dustin Takes
Director of Production

Dustin is a full-time fireman in Cedar Rapids, but during his off days, he is making dairy products. He is our head plant guy...

Josie Rozum
Operations & Marketing Manager

Josie spends her time focused on marketing sales and operations of the creamery. She runs our creamery store, manages our various social media sites, writes the...

Tyler Takes
Animal Nutrition Manager

Tyler is our right hand guy on the farm. He spends the majority of his time mixing up the feed daily for our entire...

Brian O’Keefe
Production Coordinator

Brian is truly a utility player! When he is not in the plant making delicious products, he can be found working the store, making...

Riley Takes
Distribution Coordinator

Riley is the guy who gets our products out to various retailers and partners. He makes sure every store gets what they need each...

Bridgette Banda
Creamery Store Supervisor

Bridgette’s primary role at the creamery is working in our store. If you stop in for a cone or to grab a gallon of...

Gary “Buey” Schropp
Ice Cream Artisian

Home Delivery Driver

The Grandkids
Creamery Store Supervisor

We have some pretty cute ice cream taste testers. The grandkids take their role very seriously and will only allow the best ice cream...

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