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.
With raw milk prices low and demand for cheese, yogurt and other dairy foods high, America’s dairy processors are opening up their checkbooks to buy new equipment. A survey by BNP Market Research (Dairy Foods’ research arm) found that 56% of dairy processors are buying equipment this year and 60% plan to buy in 2017.
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.
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.