When Jillian Williams learned that the SideHill Farm yogurt business was for sale, she sensed it was a good fit for her personal experience and passion for marketing projects.
“I thought this is right up my alley, given the fact that it’s dairy and I have experience and knowledge of the dairy industry — including making yogurt on a personal scale,” she said.
Williams grew up in the desert outside Los Angeles, California, but her life path led her to marry Jackson Williams, a 13th-generation farmer in Hatfield. The Luther Belden Farm in Hatfield is where Williams learned about the dairy industry. Her knowledge and experience grew alongside their family.
While her husband and father-in-law are the full-time farmers, Williams helps out with the cows as needed. Williams notes, “At home, I’ve really been involved in fermentation, cheese making and making my own yogurt.” She says about Luther Belden Farm, “I was the bad influence. I made us get goats and chickens and ducks, and installed a high tunnel, so we can explore some longer-term ideas.”
The goats are part of a long-term vision to make both cow and goat cheese, but that project is in its infancy and for now, they sell the Kinder breed goats for breeding stock or as pets. Williams notes, “We don’t have facilities for Grade-A goat milking. Did you know you can’t milk cows and goats in the same parlor? It’s actually a different permit, so it has to be a whole separate facility.”
While the farm is home, it is entirely separate from the yogurt business. Williams talks about the transition of the SideHill Farm business going smoothly, “After I met [founders] Paul [Lacinski] and Amy [Klippenstein], it was pretty clear that I have the skills to take the business to the next level. I also have the energy to pursue some of the projects that they had looked at in the past but then decided not to do at the time.”
She continues, “We shared a lot of the same values and goals around what the business means to them and to me, and what it can mean to the people who enjoy our products … so it was a really nice fit.”
As of June 1, 2025, Jillian Williams became the owner of SideHill Farm yogurt. She worked alongside Klippenstein and Lacinski who stayed on, showing her the ropes. They gradually tapered down, and now are available to consult and advise.
Things went smoothly: she retained the production staff who carry the tacit knowledge of the business, and added office and delivery support. Even though she is a quick learner, the learning curve is lively.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m spinning plates, trying not to drop them. Initially, I took on too many roles, trying to step into the shoes of both Amy and Paul. I am slowly bringing in others and transferring tasks over,” she said.
One unforeseen challenge Williams encountered upon taking the reins of the company was a challenge to the name and branding of the yogurt. SideHill Farm yogurt is made in Hawley, neighboring Vermont. A jam company in Brattleboro, SideHill Farm, holds the federal trademark to the name.
While both companies were smaller, the Vermont company graciously allowed their neighbors over the border to continue using the name; however, both companies have grown over the years, and sometimes the shared name creates confusion.
“Unfortunately, the way the trademark shakes out is that jam and yogurt actually fall into the same category,” Williams said.
As the yogurt business changed hands, Williams was given a deadline of Dec. 31, 2025 to change the name of the business, and Macca Gene Creamery was born on Jan. 1, 2026. Williams notes, “This has been a very amicable interaction, and we hope people enjoy SideHill Farm jam on our yogurt.”
The new name of the creamery honors her husband’s matriarchal grandparents. Currently 96 years old, “Macca is a big part of why we were able to consider buying the yogurt company. She’s very supportive and she’s just a wonderful person. Gene is her late husband, who died from cancer. Gene did a lot of work for UMass Stockbridge (now the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst) and promoted agriculture and local way before it was cool,” explains Williams. “And it’s a creamery, so you have “Macca Gene Creamery.”
There were many considerations in choosing a new name.
“I had a lot of other ideas, but pretty much most farm names already exist,” Williams said. “It was important to us that the name mean something to us and our family, but also truly be our unique business name, so we aren’t in this position again.”
Once the decision was made, Williams navigated many nitty gritty details to accommodate other businesses’ processes. The label and packaging company needs a long lead time to change things over; where their products are in chain grocery stores, there is a process to ensure their products are correctly identified, ordered and delivered. They had to get new bar codes, which occasionally required setting up accounts all over again as new products within larger market retail settings.
Williams concludes, “I’m the type of person who likes to have many projects at the same time.” In 2026, Williams is putting her project management skills to the test, as Macca Gene Creamery begins a new era of sustainability, community and quality, for which the yogurt is beloved in our region.
To enjoy Macca Gene Creamery yogurt, see the product finder on their website: https://www.Side Hillfarm.net/find
Lisa Goodrich is a communications coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To find more specialty food products sourced from local farms, see CISA’s online guide at www.buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.