Litehouse makes award-winning blue cheese and buttermilk at separate plants in Sandpoint, Idaho, then combines them at a third to make its best-selling refrigerated salad dressings.
Ed Hawkins invented a blue cheese buttermilk salad dressing that he served in his steakhouse. When customers asked if they could buy a bottle to take home, he knew it was a hit.
Idaho-based Litehouse Inc. makes award-winning blue cheeses, yogurt and buttermilk. The employee-owned dairy processor uses these ingredients in its top-selling line of refrigerated salad dressings.
The city of Sandpoint (population 7,500) is in the skinny part of Idaho, wedged between Washington and Montana, and about an hour south of the Canadian border. Sandpoint is the seat of Bonner County which, at 1,920 square miles, is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. When the Dixie Chicks sing of “Wide Open Spaces,” they could be referring to this part of Idaho.
The portfolio of Lala U.S. includes Lala yogurt smoothies, Promised Land milk and cream products, Borden cultured products, Frusion smoothies, Skim Plus milk and Nordica cottage cheese.
August 29, 2016
Grupo Lala, a dairy company headquartered in Mexico, today announced a new division named Lala U.S., headquartered in Dallas. The move is expected to strengthen ties with retailers and consumers.
Though some dairies saw sales fall last year, others reported increases. As they looked at the long-term prospects of the industry, businesses opened their checkbooks to acquire companies and to expand their processing capabilities.
Just as Dairy Foods was wrapping up its research into the 100 largest dairy processors in North America, the French dairy giant Danone announced it was buying Colorado-based WhiteWave Foods, a processor of organic dairy and plant-based beverages.
Congratulations to the management and employees of the Bel Brands USA cheese plant in Brookings, S.D. The facility has been selected as Dairy Foods’ Plant of the Year for 2016.
It was one of 12 food processing facilities nominated for the award. Dairy Foods invited the dairy industry to vote and help select the recipient. During a five-week period ending July 6, more than 3,500 votes were cast.
The Idaho Milk Processors Association Conference ends Aug. 12.
August 12, 2016
The Idaho Milk Processors Association Conference, Aug. 11 to 12, includes a panel discussion among dairy experts dubbed "The Future of Food" that addresses balancing consumer trends and food security.
In 2015 Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma told a CNBC interviewer that the time to worry about next quarter was two or three years ago. If you are thinking today about what you are going to do in the next three months, you’ll be in trouble, he said.
The 100 largest dairy processors in North America clearly are planning ahead. They are building new plants and adding to existing ones, even though at least 30% of the companies reported lower sales in 2015 than in 2014. They are not going to let a one-year blip derail their plans for the future.
A start-up, a 100-year-old business and a division of a billion-dollar company have their own unique ways of making and selling ice cream and frozen desserts.