By Kathy Brown
HK Dairy Barn opened for the 2022 season on April 20, under new ownership. Ling Lin purchased the business from Ryan and Paige Blaschke. The Blaschkes owned the business since opening it in 2015. 
Ling is no stranger to the food business; she has owned Moonlight restaurant in Middletown since 2014. The popular restaurant has sushi, bento boxes for lunch and dinner, a wide variety of dinner specials, and hibachi tables.
“Ryan and Paige are regular customers at our restaurant,” said Ling. “That’s where and how we met and became friends. Ryan and Paige found that they’ve become too busy with their other business, and don’t have time to run the shop. They asked us if we were interested in taking over since we have experience in the food industry.”
Ling’s family lived in Middletown, but moved to Higganum last summer. “We moved because we have a big family with five kids running around; we want them to have room to grow and play. We have a lot of friends and customers from the Haddam area who all had great things to say and recommend the town to us.”
Will there be any drastic changes at the Dairy Barn?
“[We] are big fans of Dairy Barn’s ice creams and what they stand for,” said Ling. “Which is why there will be no changes made besides ownership.” They still offer the same ice cream, Italian ices and delicious sundaes.
We stopped by yesterday to get my daughter some soft serve, and the lines were long, but as it is in a small town, people stood around patiently chatting, waiting for their ice cream to appear in the window. The servers were friendly, and the ice cream was delicious.
The current hours are Wednesday through Monday 2:00 – 8:00 p.m. (closed on Tuesdays). Their hours will get longer as the weather gets warmer.
“We want to see HK Dairy Barn grow and prosper,” finished Ling. “We’ve got a lot of love and support these first few days of opening and it motivates us to do more and be even better.”
HK Dairy Barn is located at 986 Killingworth Road, Higganum. Facebook page.
