From 50 Cheese Orders to 100 Years
Founded with about 50 mail-order cheese packages in 1926, Colony Brands enters its second century as a billion-dollar, family-owned enterprise with deep roots in Green County’s cheesemaking culture and the Swiss settlement at New Glarus.
A century ago, Ray Kubly took an idea developed in a University of Wisconsin marketing class and mailed flyers offering pieces of Green County cheese to customers beyond Wisconsin.
About 50 orders arrived during that first year. Kubly purchased cheese from nearby factories, cut and packaged it in the basement of a rented Monroe home and shipped it to customers himself.
That modest operation became The Swiss Colony, one of the best-known mail-order food businesses in the United States. In 2026, the company now known as Colony Brands is marking 100 years since Kubly launched the business.
The anniversary celebrates more than the survival of a familiar cheese and holiday-gift company. It marks the transformation of a basement enterprise into a privately held, family-owned national retailer that has generated more than $1 billion in annual sales, employed thousands of people and become one of the most important businesses in Green County history.
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