The U.S. arm of Switzerland’s largest dairy is staking a claim to the markets for yogurts and milk-based coffee beverages. The dairy processor already is known here for its award-winning specialty cheeses.
Alps, cheese and chocolate are commonly associated with Switzerland. So is the country’s reputation for precision engineering. Just ask anyone who has taken a cable car to the top of a mountain or owns a Swiss watch. A Swiss dairy processor is expanding its presence in the United States by taking precise steps in developing dairy foods, and then executing marketing programs to gain placement on the shelves of grocery stores, with foodservice operators and in specialty food stores.
Emmi Roth’s facility in New York state is like a Swiss army knife for dairy processing. It has a tool for just about everything, including high- and low-acid aseptic dairy and nondairy products, bag-in-box and retail stand-up re-closable pouches.
Ask a tourist about what to see or do in upstate New York, and you might hear about the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, boating or fishing on the region’s many lakes or visiting the Corning Museum of Glass.
Over the past three years, we’ve seen a growing Asian dairy market which has led to increased production abroad, but more importantly has attracted foreign expansion within the United States. With forecasts remaining positive into 2012, employment opportunities are expected to continue to open up in the United States in segments such as milk powder, Greek yogurt and companies working with easily portable commodities.
United States cheesemakers came away with 85 medals at the World Cheese Awards, the most ever for U.S. entrants in the competition. Hundreds of cheese companies worldwide participated, sending more than 2,500 cheeses to Birmingham, England, where they were judged by a field of more than 200 expert tasters from around the world.
Introducing a new product in the dairy foods industry is “a tough business,” says Randall Mitchell, chief executive officer of Smoky Mountain Cheese, Seymour, Tenn. “There’s nothing easy about it.”