May 12, 2006
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A FULL ARRAY — Gossner Foods, best known for its Swiss cheese, has extensive cut and wrap capabilities and offers customers a number of different cheeses in a variety of formats. The company also produces shelf-stable UHT milk.

By Kate Sander

LOGAN, Utah — The Gossner family, which has been making cheese in Utah since the early 1940s, has spent the last decade expanding throughout the West and just began producing cheese at its third location this past fall.

Gossner Foods Inc. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October to commemorate the opening of its brand new 155,000-square-foot plant in Idaho’s Magic Valley, about a two-hour drive up Interstate 84 from its company headquarters in Logan, Utah. There, the company has been able to expand production of its specialty: Swiss.

Fueling the need for expansion has been a growing demand for natural Swiss, says Greg Rowley, executive vice president, Gossner Foods. The company has been gaining more business on the East Coast, and customers in general are in need of more product.

“It’s exciting to see the growth in Swiss. The whole category has grown,” he says, noting that Swiss is finding its way into a number of foodservice items, like hamburgers, which traditionally have used other types of cheese.

The new plant in Heyburn, Idaho, sits poised to be the company’s largest cheese production facility. Presently, the plant is processing about 759,000 pounds of milk a day, five days a week, which is about half of its capacity of 1 million pounds a day, seven days a week, Rowley says. The plant also is built so that more expansion can take place later. Any significant expansion in the company’s cheese production in the future likely will occur there, he adds.

Dolores Gossner Wheeler, daughter of the late Edwin Gossner who began making cheese in Utah in the 1940s and started Gossner Foods in 1966, says the company chose Heyburn, Idaho, as the location for the new cheese plant because the area offers a city-run anaerobic wastewater disposal system, an abundant local milk supply, natural fresh water wells and many people looking for work. The location’s relative proximity to company headquarters didn’t hurt, either.

It’s the second new construction project the company has undertaken in the past decade. Eight years ago, the company built its Imperial Valley Cheese of California subsidiary with its partner, the Kuhn family and their KF Dairy, which supplies much of the milk for that plant.

Building a plant from the ground up always is a learning experience, according to Wheeler and Rowley, who say that despite construction challenges, it’s easier to build a new plant than retrofit an old one. Ultimately, they have been very pleased with how the new plant has turned out.

“The Gossner family did a great job investing in a state-of-the-art facility,” Rowley says, noting that Swiss is a challenging cheese to make.

Wheeler is filled with praise for the effort and sacrifices the Logan staff put into making the Magic Valley plant a reality. Staff, including cheesemakers, mechanics and packaging people, spent many hours up and down the interstate and away from their families overseeing construction and helping train the cheesemakers and other plant operations staff in Idaho. The plant is overseen by Dave Thomas, formerly the top executive at Glanbia Foods in Idaho, who also was integrally involved in the plant’s construction.

“We have lots of years of experience in our people. They all put their heads together to make it turn out right. It’s a team effort to do what we do,” Wheeler says.

“We said, ‘Let’s not go and make any old mistakes. Let’s make some new ones,’” Rowley adds with a laugh.

Later this month, the company will open a retail store at the Idaho plant location. The Magic Valley store and the Logan, Utah, retail store offer the company’s cheese products, premium ice cream made in small batches at the plants and specialty items. Wheeler says the cheese shop in Logan is a popular tourist draw, and she hopes the new Magic Valley store will be as well.

Wheeler says the company’s growth is aided by its focus on quality and a unique “western” Swiss cheese. It is made using the same formula that Edwin Gossner developed years ago and has a milder flavor and softer body than other Swiss cheeses, yet it remains distinctly Swiss, she says.

The Gossner executives fully expect to continue expanding cheese production in the space they now have. The company offers several varieties of Swiss cheese ranging from the mild flavor of its Baby Swiss to the full-bodied flavor of its European Style Swiss. In addition to Swiss, the company produces Asadero, Muenster and minihorns in three varieties: Colby, Colby Jack and Pepper Jack. The company also cuts and wraps a variety of cheeses. Total company cheese production in 2005 was around 38 million pounds but executives expect it will reach 48-50 million pounds in 2006. The amount of cheese marketed, including cut and wrap cheese, is even higher.

The cheese is marketed for private label as well as under the Gossner and High Mountain brands.

The company, whose customer base tends to be bigger in the west simply due to its location, has been expanding eastward. This is due to additional customers as well as longtime customers needing more cheese, Rowley says.

To keep up with demand, Idaho hasn’t been the only capital project this past year. A fifth slice line has been added at Logan. Cheese produced at the Magic Valley plant is shipped to Logan for slicing.

And in California, Imperial Valley Cheese has increased its Muenster production, according to Wheeler.

This past year, in the midst of the excitement of opening the new Idaho plant, the company suffered the tragic loss of Jim Kuhn, founder of KF Dairy, in a car accident. The subsidiary has continued to operate well, though, and Wheeler says Kuhn’s wife, Heidi, has done a “wonderful job” with the business. Heidi Kuhn in January accepted the International Dairy Foods Association’s (IDFA) Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year award on behalf of KF Dairy. IDFA presents the award annually to recognize dairy producers that apply creativity, excellence and forward thinking to achieve greater on-farm productivity and improved milk marketing.

Wheeler says the cheese produced at the Imperial Valley plant, made from milk from just two dairies, is marketed as rBST-free. The company also utilizes its ability to tie into California Milk Advisory Board marketing there.

Another important part of Gossner Foods’ business continues to be its UHT milk manufactured in Logan. In 2005, Gossner finalized a contract in which it now produces aseptically-packaged, shelf-stable milk under the Hershey brand name in chocolate, cookies n’ creme, vanilla and strawberry flavors.

The company also recently began offering a new packaging configuration, 8-ounce containers, 21 in a case, for club stores.

CMN