When a business spans five generations, you know you’re doing things right. And when it comes to dairy, you won’t go wrong, when you visit Wright’s.

Located in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, Wright’s Dairy Farm is a local institution that’s been providing fresh dairy and more since 1914.

“We are a family owned business. We are a real working dairy farm. We process our own milk here on site. We have 100 milking cows. We have a bakery on site and we also scoop ice cream. My great grandfather settled here in the early 1900s. When pasteurization became the standard in the 30s, my great grandfather had the foresight to set up a dairy plant where we could process the milk here on site. When you visit us, you will experience a real working dairy farm in a family atmosphere, and be able to enjoy some of our great bakery products and fresh whipped cream and ice cream from the cow to you.”

That’s fourth generation owner, Ellen Puccetti who along the rest of the Wright family have created more than just a farm, they’ve created an experience. It all starts the second you pull into the parking lot.

“When you drive up the driveway to the farm, you’re going to be faced with our milking barn where we milk the cows twice a day. And that milk travels overhead. So you’ll cross a pipeline where the milk will travel overhead and go into the dairy where it gets processed fresh daily. They’re greeted to the smells and the sounds of a real working dairy farm. So sometimes you might get a smell of manure or the smell of a cinnamon roll that day.  When you walk into the bakery, you’ll see an array of bakery products. You’ll see our ice cream.  You’ll see a cooler with all of the milks that we offer and you’ll see the pastry cases. It’s almost like a kid going into a candy store.  There’s all kinds of different things to choose from.  It always takes people a few times to be able to make their choice of what they want to actually bring home and try and they always leave it more than what they probably should.”

And the reason why people normally overindulge starts out back, where Bakery Operations Manager, Paul Delude and his team have the luxury of using all of that farm fresh cream.

“It’s less than 24 hours old before we get it. We make some of the best stuff with milk and cream. So we make all our own fresh custard chocolate pudding for fillings and cakes. We make all those things from scratch from that milk. And it’s so important that people know that we’re using our own products when they come here.”

When you’re at a dairy, picking up a gallon of milk would make sense. But in Rhode Island, you should most definitely make it a coffee milk.

“It’s the state drink and I’m so glad to be able to serve it and have that here at our farm.

“It’s funny because people, come here and they’re like, What is this coffee milk thing? What is going on?”

“It tastes like iced coffee that you would get at any coffee shop, but it has a little richer flavor. It probably has a little caffeine because of the coffee syrup. But we use a nice rich coffee based syrup, and then a little bit of sweetener.  We have so many people that come from out of state to visit the area. And that’s the first thing they want to try is coffee milk .”

To pair with your coffee milk, Wright’s offers a massive case of baked goods.  From cream puffs filled generously with that famous Wright’s cream to eclairs stuffed with fresh custard. But nothing goes with a glass of cold milk quite like a good Chocolate Chip Cookie.

“We do an old fashioned style chocolate chip cookie. It’s very similar to a Toll House. We use really high quality chocolate chips. We make them only with butter, brown sugar, so they’re really classic. We sell tons and tons of them.”

Wright’s blueberry muffins are also a customer favorite- inspired by those legendary Jordan Marsh muffins.

My father and mother always shopped at Jordan Marsh and loved those muffins. So there were a lot of trial and error before we finally got the real blueberry muffin that we sell today. We weren’t bakers.  We were farmers and that was a time when there was a lot of trial and error going on.”

Other fruit filled sweets include Wright’s apple pie, stuffed with fresh sliced apples in a flaky crust and their famous Strawberry Shortcake.

But for a true Wright’s Dairy treat, you have to try the udderly delicious Cow Cake.

“Cow cakes is something that we created here quite a while ago. It’s a mousse that we make from scratch. We make a really rich chocolate ganache, that’s melted chocolate and heavy cream and we use that to flavor our mousse.  It’s two thin layers of chocolate cake on the top and bottom and a really thick two and a half inch layer of mousse in the center all whipped cream on the outside.  It’s nice and soft and fluffy and it’s just to die for.  It’s great.”

And not only are the baked goods, fresh milk and homemade ice cream great, you’ll find the overall experience is what is so right about Wright’s.

“It’s really good for people to see where their food comes from. And here is a place where they can see where their dairy products come from, and they can see what really happens. They can come and buy a few things and sit and watch the cows being milked.  It’s inexpensive outdoor family event that you can do anytime you want.”