It all started on October 1, 1951, when Arthur Quickert and his family arrived in Canada after leaving war-torn Germany. Skilled in the traditional dairy trade of his native Germany, it was not long before Arthur put these skills to use in his new home, Belleville, Ontario. One month after his arrival, Arthur Quickert started work at the Black Diamond Cheese Factory sweeping floors for .75 cents an hour. Within three years, Arthur was promoted to General Manager of the Belleville plant and soon after, had totally redesigned the Black Diamond Factory.

With his keen business sense and knowledge of the Canadian dairy industry, Arthur quickly established his own business. In the 1960’s Reid’s Dairy and Riverside Dairy were acquired.

When Arthur’s son Armin took over as company president and general manager he moved the production facility from Parker street, to its new home at 222 Bell Boulevard. In 1991 in dedication to Arthur and Elizabeth Quickert, the iconic fairy tale castle was added on to the facility and commemorates 40 years of the family’s commitment to the dairy industry in Canada.

The Quickert family is always innovating and continues to upgrade and improve the manufacturing facility and retail outlet to provide their employees with the equipment that enables them to produce the very best products for our customers. Today the company is run by Armin’s son, Stephen and he has continued on the tradition of supplying their customers with high quality dairy products at an affordable price.

As Reid’s Dairy grows it continues to play a big part in the community by donating to local charities and non-profit organizations. We sponsor the Relay for Life, United Way of Quinte, Pedal for Hope and the Canadian Cancer Society on an annual basis. In addition, we support the Gleaners Food Bank in Belleville and food banks across Trenton, Campbelford and Northumberland by donating milk in partnership with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. During the 2014-2015 Reid’s Dairy provided $19,000 worth of milk each year to the Hastings and Prince Edward public and catholic school boards Breakfast Programs.

Most Recently we donated over $200,000 to the Belleville General Hospital’s Oncology unit.

Come and experience the difference in Reid’s Dairy Products.

Our story is a common one. In part. We were a couple of 30-somethings in the advertising world having an office fling. And that’s when it all went sideways.

What changed? We fell in love. Started talking about kids. Got engaged. Got chosen for a reality show for engaged couples. Got married. Had said kids. Bought, renovated a few houses along the way.

Then this thing called Covid came along. By then, we, Tracy and Jimmy, had enough of the advertising world. And so began our migration out of the city. We went north. We looked west and south. And then decided on east.

One day, about 30,000 kilometres later, we drove through Warkworth. And like our office romance, we fell in love all over again. For better or worse, sensing a pattern yet, we found an incredibly cute home – unlike any we’d ever lived in – and set down roots.

So about a year later, when the opportunity presented itself, we jumped right in. As we do. And now we’re calling ourselves chefs, baristas, dishwashers, and a few other names we won’t, or can’t mention here.

But, and there’s always a but, all we can say is we’re incredibly excited about where we ended up — as well as being a part of this amazing community, we now call home.