In 2016, Henry Schwartz made the difficult decision to close Elmhurst, New York City’s last dairy company, which had been in his family for more than 90 years. The company’s origins trace back to when his father and uncle hand-bottled milk and delivered it to Queens and Brooklyn in a truck packed with ice blocks.

As dairy consumption steadily declined and Americans increasingly embraced healthier, plant-based diets with a focus on sustainability, Henry began to see the potential to transform Elmhurst into something new. Though he had little experience with plant-based beverages, fate intervened when he met Dr. Cheryl Mitchell, a renowned plant food scientist. Dr. Mitchell had developed a groundbreaking process called HydroRelease™, which uses only water to separate the natural components of grains, nuts, or seeds before reassembling them into smooth, creamy beverages. This method preserves the original nutrition without the need for gums or emulsifiers.

Inspired by the opportunity, Henry partnered with Dr. Mitchell to bring this innovation to market—retaining the iconic Elmhurst name along with its historic founding year. Today, Elmhurst 1925 is one of the fastest-growing plant-based beverage companies on the market.

Since its transition in 2016, Elmhurst Milked, LLC has relied on Food Export–Northeast programs to fuel its international growth. In 2023, the company participated in the Market Access Program-funded Branded Program to increase brand awareness for its non-dairy milk products in Canada. With program funding, Elmhurst executed a mix of marketing initiatives including trade magazine ads, billboard promotions, in-store product demonstrations, social media campaigns, retail promotions, and bilingual promotional materials.

As a result, Elmhurst reported over $6.3 million in sales to Canada by the end of the program year, along with 200 new foreign buyer contacts, seven new distributorships, and projected sales exceeding $8.9 million over the next twelve months.

Beyond the Branded Program, Elmhurst has actively engaged in 18 Buyers Missions since 2020. In 2024, the company joined Food Export’s Specialty Food Buyers Mission at the Winter Fancy Food Show, meeting importers from eight countries across Asia, Europe, and Central/South America. These efforts led to a first-time sale to Guatemala worth $10,000, with projected sales of $20,000 over the next year.

Food Export uses funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) to help America’s small businesses increase their exports of food and agricultural products. As these exports increase, these small businesses are creating jobs and improving the strength and stability of our agricultural economy. Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast are non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with their member state departments of agriculture and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. They offer a wide range of programs and services that help boost America’s agricultural exports.