A recently-released book tells the story that tells a remarkable Wisconsin story of dairy success.
If there is a typical road to ice cream success, Jeff Miller’s story is perhaps not that typical story. He didn’t graduate from the dairy science program at Madison and he’s not even a Wisconsin native.
What he is, is a Minnesota native who pursued a career in international law and was living with his partner Dean in London, before making a sudden radical career shift inspired by a metaphor that he stumbled into. He found that ice cream was the solution.
"It actually requires this delicate balance, which I compare to the balance of work and pleasure," says Miller. "I came to the conclusion that was the problem, that our lives had become out of balance. It was all work, all stress, all pressure and very little pleasure. I came to the conclusion that ice cream was the answer."
After that realization, he bought West’s Dairy and Ice Cream in Hayward, Wisconsin, in 2005. And buying and renovating a bed and breakfast there simultaneously.
The story of Miller’s first year as a dairyman and owner of McCormick House Bed and Breakfast is recounted in a charming memoir called Scoop: Notes From a Small Ice Cream Shop.
