On the banks of the Sugar River in Paoli, Wisconsin, stands an old cheese factory built in 1888 by a cooperative of local dairy farmers. For over 90 years, the factory thrived making award-winning Swiss cheese and butter – until the consolidation of the dairy industry was too swift for the little factory to keep pace. In 1980, the factory closed its doors for good.
When the building came up for sale in 2021, co-owner Nic Mink and his wife, Danika, purchased the factory to preserve the piece of Wisconsin heritage.
“We thought it would be exciting to redevelop it into something that was more aligned with its older use in dairy,” Nic Mink says. “It had been used for dairy for almost 100 years, so we wanted to figure out how to use it for dairy again, but in a more modern way that focused on a boutique hotel, a restaurant with farmstead cookery, a café with soft-serve ice cream and a small dairy plant. It was like, ‘How do we make an old dairy factory new again?'"
From left to right: Anna Thomas Bates, Anna Landmark, Nic Mink and Danika Laine. Photo by Nicole Hansen Photography.
From Mink’s idea, the Seven Acre Dairy Company was born as a one-of-a kind destination for meetings, events and weddings featuring relaxation, accommodations, amenities and activities for dairy lovers near and far.
“It’s kind of like a mini resort. When you think about what a resort has, right?” Mink says.
The eight hotel rooms are situated in the old fluid milk processing wing of the plant, where half of the rooms have beautiful views of the river. The rooms are also larger than most suites and rooms you would find in a typical hotel.
The Bur Oak suite offers unique woodworking that matches the natural features of the area. Photo by Nicole Hansen Photography.“We figured we're small enough that each of the rooms could have their own name and have their own theme,” Mink says. “The themes for all the rooms focus on important people from the factory, important elements of the factory’s production and natural ecological features of the region we’re in.”
The Creamery Room features an 8-foot circular window where a cream tank once stood. Photo by Nicole Hansen Photography. The restaurant is called The Kitchen at Seven Acre, and its menu is focused on celebrating farmstead cookery of the region during the era when the cheese factory was at its height in production.
“A lot of rural Midwestern foods from the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s are being reinvented by a group of chefs and is a meditation on Midwestern identity,” Mink says. “It's a more creative, modern, innovative take on the farmstead cookery of the era. So lots of meat, lots of cheeses, lots of butters, but also a lot of pickles and preserves. Paoli is also a region where a lot of Swiss settlement happened, so there is quite a bit of Swiss influence in the food. And we really wanted this food to speak of the historical importance of the building as well.”
The Dairy Café at Seven Acre is a casual café featuring coffee, sandwiches, pastries and soft-serve ice cream made in-house.
“Although this is a pretty rural place, we are increasingly part of a commuter suburb to Madison, Wisconsin. So we have a lot of people looking for coffee, sandwiches and pastries on the way in,” Mink says. “And what else is cool is: All of these foods are made from the butter we produce in our micro-dairy plant.”
The milk supplied to the micro-dairy plant comes from the dairy next door, Fischerdale Farm.
“Fischerdale Farm is owned by the Sarbacker family, which is a fourth-generation dairy farm that, interestingly, delivered milk to the plant back when it was still up and running,” Mink says.
Halfway through the renovation process, Mink decided they really wanted to have dairy production at the building again.
“We thought it would be really special and an important part of our identity,” Mink says. “We had no idea how to do dairy production, so we partnered with a local artisan cheese company called Landmark Creamery. We thought that element was symbolically important to the site. So now there has been three centuries of dairy production from the 1880s to 2023 here, and I think it suggests the continuity and longevity of dairy in Wisconsin.”
The entire rebuild process, from start to finish, took a little over 18 months. Mink worked with a local architectural firm and general contractor that had a lot of experience both in food and beverage manufacturing and in historic restoration.
“The old factory was pretty dilapidated and crumbling and had no modern systems from mechanical, electric, plumbing, fire protection, sanitary and septic,” Mink says. “It really hadn't had any significant TLC for 50 years.”
According to Mink, there are only a handful of dairy factories on the National Register of Historic Places and even fewer that are still making dairy products.
The Dairy Café offers pastries, sandwiches and soft serve ice cream to visitors. Photo by Nicole Hansen Photography. “We think this is exciting and unique. We’ve got both a working dairy plant that is totally open to the public where you can stay overnight, eat dinner here or have ice cream,” Mink says. “I think that’s the most unique thing about this whole place, where people can come and enjoy themselves and see this piece of remarkable Wisconsin heritage.”
Mink had an outpouring of support from community members who previously worked at or delivered milk to the factory.
“One of the best parts about it all was having help from community members who had old photographs, old butter boxes, old milk cans, or they would find signs stashed away in their garage. They helped curate the experience,” Mink says. “All the materials that are incorporated into the interior design at the Seven Acre Dairy Company came from the community members, who were really excited to provide them to us to help support the vision of the property.”
Seeing his dream for the old factory come to life was fulfilling for Mink, to have the place that was once incredibly important to the community be so again, especially for the people who remember the factory and are now in their 70s and 80s.
“Their support, approval and excitement around how we redid the building was probably the most satisfying part of the entire experience,” Mink says.
Seven Acre Dairy Company opened its doors on Dec. 14, 2022 and plans to ensure their guests have a great experience when they come to buy ice cream or butter, eat dinner or stay overnight.
