November 15, 2024
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Photos courtesy of Hispanic Cheese Makers

FNNOVATIONS ON DISPLAY — Hispanic Cheese Makers offers innovative formats of its cheeses for convenient snacking options or food prep, such as Oaxaca Bites (top) and Cheese Fries (middle). This past year, the company upgraded its trade show presence with a professionally designed display (bottom) to help promote its extensive line and latest innovations.

Photo courtesy of Hispanic Cheese Makers

BUILDING CAPACITY — Hispanic Cheese Makers recently completed a $30-million-plus, multi-phase expansion of its plant in Kent, Illinois, and continues to invest in improvements of its production capabilities.

By Rena Archwamety

CHICAGO — Hispanic Cheese Makers (HCM), which specializes in providing Hispanic-style cheeses for private brand, co-packing and ingredient manufacturers, continues to invest in improvements following the completion of a $30-million-plus expansion of its Kent, Illinois, plant last year.

The multi-phase expansion included new driveways and parking facilities; truck access for a new triple-bay milk intake; new loading docks, coolers and storage; the addition of major machinery and cheesemaking equipment; and new offices, employee facilities and a test kitchen.

As the company settles into its expanded facility, it now is focusing on improving automation, quality and efficiency, all aimed at meeting the demands of its customers for innovative, on-trend and sustainable products.

“We’re focused on being a good partner with our customers when they say, ‘Hey, can you do this or that?’” says Mark Braun, president, HCM. “People developing private brands are different from years ago. Before it was just a price advantage. Now there’s still the expanded margin, but certain companies are very focused on their private brands. They want them to be meaningful with consumer convenience, more sustainable packaging and being more on-trend.

As you become a stronger partner with them, you position yourself to be the manufacturer of those demands.”

Braun says HCM also has seen growth in a number of its customers, gaining distribution in other areas as well as expanding their range of SKUs.

Additionally, the foodservice part of its business has grown.

HCM’s latest improvements have included more closed clean-in-place (CIP) systems and more automation, which were focused mainly on improving quality assurance but also have helped improve capacity along the way.

“The number of vats we could process increased by 30% because we could automate it,” Braun says. “In 2025-2026, there will be significant investments made again that relate to automation and facility expansion.”

Founded in 2009, HCM serves national retailers, top brands, distributors and manufacturers with its wide range of high-quality Mexican, Caribbean and Central American style authentic cheeses and creams. Its plant is certified SQF Level 3 Excellent, and it can manufacture any type of Hispanic cheese, including Fresco, Oaxaca, Cotija, Panela,

Quesadilla, Blanco and Para Freir. It also offers a wide range of packaging and formatting options to meet its customers’ demands for convenience and sustainability.

Among HCM’s newer offerings in packaging is a more sustainable, contour packaging with an easy-open seal that uses less plastic. The company installed a special contour-cutting packaging machine for this new packaging, and due to strong demand, it now is investing in a second one.

“We’ve seen demand for convenience in packaging, easy-open and less plastic,” Braun explains. “The demand for that requires special contour-cutting packaging machines. Those are the things that are on-trend, so we’ve adapted to that.”

In addition to its new contour-cutting and easy-peel features, HCM is offering more advanced printing on its packaging films to provide better marketing and branding.

“I think the next trend might be the packaging materials themselves starting to change, driven by all the sustainability trends,” Braun adds.

On the cheese side, Braun says traditional cheese in different formats remains strong, while HCM also sees growth in some of the more innovative products. For instance, frying cheese in French-fry cuts or other shapes continue to grow significantly, as well as flavors such as Panela with real serrano, jalapeno and habanero peppers. He adds that some of HCM’s customers also have seen growth in club-store offerings.

One of the most recent innovations in cheese formats HCM offers is its Oaxaca Bites, made with the same formulation and process as the company’s traditional Oaxaca Ball, but formed into bite-size pieces.

Consumers love the stringy cheese in a more convenient form, and it offers a keto-friendly, low-carb alternative for those looking for a healthy snack, the company says. On the foodservice side, Oaxaca Bites offer easy portion control and savings on time and labor when making dishes that require a melting cheese, such as Queso Fundido and Quesadillas.

To market its line of traditional Hispanic-style cheeses and innovative formats and packaging, HCM this year has focused on building its corporate brand and image through its digital presence, in trade publications and at trade shows across the country. A new professionally designed booth has caught the attention of many show attendees and been praised for its unique design, authenticity and visual impact, Braun says.

HCM’s cheeses have won a number of awards over the years at contests such as the American
Cheese Society Competition, the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest and the World Championship
Cheese Contest. HCM also has been honored for its company culture, as it received USA Today’s Top
Workplaces for Manufacturing award in both 2023 and 2024.

Braun credits the workforce at HCM, as well as the resilience of its customers and their desire to differentiate themselves, for the company’s continued growth. He sees continued growth in Hispanic-style cheeses as they become more prevalent in deli and specialty settings and popular among mainstream shoppers.

“Typically in previous times, we would look at the demographic side and what percent of the population was Hispanic,” he says. “That is still part of it, but really where we have found growth was the adoption of these cheeses in many other places. We never used to see Mexican cheese in delis. Now they are in specialty and deli, and have made their way into specialty cheese shops. We even see large natural food chains carrying Hispanic cheeses under their label. It is growing.”

CMN