There is a lot more to successful processing of dairy foods than heating raw milk and putting it into bottles or turning it into cheese, yogurt or ice cream. There are factors in play far beyond pasteurization times and temperatures.

Here’s a modern-day checklist for developing and selling a new food or beverage:

• Have an intriguing origin story
• Use only recognizable ingredients (nothing too chemical-sounding)
• Make it portable
• Be interactive with consumers
• Tie the product to a cause

The long-term prospects for dairy processors and dairy producers look promising because of opportunities at home and abroad. In the short-term, however, the dairy industry faces uncertainty with its trading partners.

To see how White Clover Dairy grew up to become Arla Foods, it helps to look at a series of aerial photos hung in the entrance hallway to this cheese plant in Hollandtown, Wis. In the first image there is a farmhouse near the original plant. Later images show how expansions to the plant crept closer and closer to the house. Eventually, the plant completely surrounds the farmhouse, and in the last image, the house is gone. These additions over the years turned the facility into a 110,000-square-foot plant.

Dairy Foods editor-in-chief Jim Carper spoke with Mario Leite, the founder of Tea-rrific! Ice Cream, about the company, his goals and lessons that he would share with other food entrepreneurs.

The European dairy cooperative Arla Foods amba has set its sights on the United States. The strategic plan of this co-op based in Denmark states that the goal is to “excel in eight dairy categories; focus on six geographical regions and win as one united and efficient Arla.”

These are good times to be in cheese. It is a dairy food that consumers like and it can be packaged in formats that fit an on-the-go way of life. Dairy processors are investing in capacity to keep up with demand.

For years, dairy processors and dairy producers have argued that makers of soy, almond and other plant-based beverages are stepping on their toes by trading on the good, nutritious name of milk.

Neal Gottlieb, the founder of Three Twins Ice Cream, needed more capacity to keep up with demand for his organic ice cream. His facility in Petaluma, Calif., was maxed out. Adding shifts was not feasible. Gottlieb bid the work to co-packers but said their quotes were “sky-high” and the quality of the test runs was a “disaster.”

Three Twins Ice Cream has grown into the leading brand of organic ice cream in just 10 years. In the course of a decade, its gone from a scoop shop to owning manufacturing facilities in California and Wisconsin. A Three Twins cause-marketing program has conserved 8,000 acres of rain forest in South America. Through another program, the company donates 1% of its sales to environmental groups.