Above: Customers visit the temporary location of the LSU AgCenter Dairy Store. Below: A cup of ice cream. Photos by Anna Ribbeck

Earlier this year, LSU broke ground on the Our Lady of the Lake Health Interdisciplinary Science Building, a four-story, nearly 200,000-square-foot structure that will be home to five education focus disciplines and one near-100-year-old campus tradition – the LSU AgCenter Dairy Store.

The Dairy Store, which began in 1925 as the campus creamery, had been in operation on the corner of South Stadium Drive and Tower Drive since 1956. It was renamed in 1972 and sold ice cream, cheeses, milk and other dairy products in that location until it relocated earlier this year to a temporary store front in the LSU Food Science Building. All dairy products used for production come from the AgCenter Southeast Research Station in Franklinton.

Our Lady of the Lake Health put up a $15 million investment and, along with $10 million from LCMC Health, $43 million from LSU donors and $105 million from the state of Louisiana, the new building will be home to astronomy, biological sciences, chemistry, geology and geophysics, mathematics and physics students and faculty as well as the new Dairy Store once construction is completed in late 2025. It will be located at the same South Stadium/Tower Drive location as the now razed original Dairy Store.

Charles “Chuck” Boeneke, an AgCenter dairy science professor who manages production at the Dairy Store, has worked there for more than 35 years, starting out as a graduate student. He was a bit nostalgic about the old location for obvious reasons.

“I met my wife here when she was a student worker, and we’ve been married for 30 years now,” Boeneke wistfully recalled.

Current Dairy Store manager Nick Uzee sees a bright future for the new Dairy Store in its new location due to the funding.

“Dr. Chuck and I are excited about the increased capacity and potential that the newly completed Dairy Store and creamery location will bring to our operations and experiences for students,” Uzee said. “And it was largely made possible through the generous support of Our Lady of the Lake.”

According to Uzee, the new facility will allow students and student employees the opportunity to explore creamery operations at a whole new level, with ice cream production capacity doubled, the cheese production facility renovated for ergonomic functionality and a milk bottling line with dramatically increased capabilities.

“The dairy processing building additionally has a large focus on student success both in the production space and classroom due to an emphasis on technology adoption and support spaces that allow for tremendous student growth,” he said.

Matt Lee, vice president for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture, said the funding for the new state-of-the-art facility will not only keep campus visitors happy during the scorching Baton Rouge summer months, but will also bolster academics.

“The LSU AgCenter Dairy Store has been a cherished campus staple for decades, and it’s been more than just a storefront to get ice cream. It serves as a hands-on learning tool for students mastering the art of food processing,” Lee said. “With this modernized facility, we secure the preservation of this creamery for the next generation of students coming to LSU.”