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"Housed in a reclaimed shipping container inside a raw production space on Hancock Street, Perrystead Dairy is a production-focused creamery where Yoav Perry separates curds from whey, ladles fresh cheese into molds, and flavors drinkable yogurts and whey “tonics” with salted caramel and pistachio. Perry will work only with local dairy farms in surrounding counties like Montgomery and West Chester as part of an effort to honor Pennsylvania’s dairy history and respond to what he calls a “disaster” in state dairy farming—a drop from fourth to seventh in production over three years driven by changing diets, falling prices, and pandemic-era milk dumping. Encouraged by state efforts to turn raw milk from grass-fed cows into “high-value products,” he plans to produce both hand-crafted, small-batch seasonal cheeses and more scalable fermented items—yogurt, kefir, and a fizzy probiotic whey tonic made from whey most makers discard. Due to FDA limitations the creamery is intended as a production space rather than a public retail shop, though Perry hopes to use the front yard to open a weekly weekend makers market by mid-spring to sell seasonal cheeses and yogurts, invite other makers (six to 12 merchants on Fridays) and a food truck on Saturdays, and to remain open about production via social media rather than being “esoteric.”" - Dayna Evans