What is a Rodem Anyway?
Dairy Beginnings
When you think Rodem your mind may go straight to sanitary product distribution or engineering or even installation, but you’re likely at a loss for the word’s origin. You may ask, Is there a Mr. Rodem? Or What is a Rodem anyway? When in fact the story of Rodem’s name traces back to our roots in the dairy industry in a unique and innovative way.
While co-founder Robert (Bob) Diener was working for a distribution company in Cincinnati, Ohio he was presented with the opportunity to purchase his customer’s, Feldmann Dairy, facility. Bob and his past customer Dave (Edward) Meyer, the son of Meyer Dairy’s owner, joined forces to purchase Feldman Dairy. This facility included a dairy and seven convenience stores where the milk, produced at the dairy, was sold. And with that, the pair was off to make their mark on the dairy industry.
Sometime after acquiring the dairy, the partners moved production to another local northern Kentucky dairy and shut down production.
As a result of shutting down their dairy production, as well as having an established customer base in the local dairy industry, Bob and partner Dave decided to start a new company to sell off the existing dairy processing equipment.
They called the new sanitary process equipment company Rodem a combination of their names.
- The “RO” comes from Robert (Bob)
- The “D” comes from Diener and David
- “EM” from Edward Meyer
The Rodem We Know Now
Eventually, Bob and Dave parted ways with Dave keeping the convince stores and Bob took full control of the sanitary processing equipment company, Rodem. Rodem has since grown from a simple equipment distribution company to a full-service provider offering systems integration and food and beverage processing equipment, repair, and engineering- while honoring its origins.
See more about Rodem’s history here and be sure to meet our team, some of whom are later generations from the original founder Bob!