DCI Cheese Company is a United States food industry company specializing in cheese, headquartered in Richfield, Wisconsin (in Mayville, Wisconsin before 2005). Established in 1975 as Dan Carter, Inc., a consulting firm for cheesemakers, [1] it rapidly grew into a cheese manufacturer and marketer and changed its name to DCI Cheese Company in 2003.
Acquired by the Fairmount Food Group in 2005, DCI continues to operate as one of the leading specialty cheese companies in the United States. As of 2007 the company is a $500 million business with over 20 unique, company-owned cheese brands. [2] In 2011, Saputo Inc., a Montreal-based cheese manufacturer with several Wisconsin plants, acquired DCI Cheese Company Inc. of Richfield for $270.5 million. [3]
Fully owned or exclusively-held brands include: [4]
In 2004 the company was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Wisconsin for its excellence in the Wholesale/Retail Distribution category. [5]
In 2007 the company won Refrigerated & Frozen Food Retailer magazine's Category Colonel Award for Specialty Cheese. [2]
Liederkranz is an American re-creation of Limburger cheese, made subtly different by the use of a different bacterial culture for smear-ripening. Liederkranz is a cow's milk cheese, with an edible pale yellow-orange tan crust, and a semisoft, pale interior with a mildly pungent flavor and distinct aroma that could become unpleasantly ammonia-like if aged incorrectly.
Saputo Dairy UK Limited is a holding company for Dairy Crest Limited; a leading British dairy products company. It was created in May 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought out Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin off of the Milk Marketing Board. Its brands include Saputo Dairy UK, Cathedral City Cheddar Cheese, Country Life Butter, Utterly Butterly, Vitalite and Clover.
Cheer, formerly marketed as Coon, is the Australian trademark of a cheddar cheese produced by the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter company, which is majority-owned by Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc.
Saputo Inc. is a Canadian dairy company based in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1954 by the Saputo family. It produces, markets, and distributes a wide array of dairy products, including cheese, fluid milk, extended shelf-life milk and cream products, cultured products and dairy ingredients and is one of the top ten dairy processors in the world. After growing in its home region of Quebec, it has expanded predominantly through mergers and acquisitions. Its products are sold in over 60 countries worldwide, operating in Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and the United Kingdom, with about half of its revenues coming from its US operations. It operated in Wales and Germany from 2006 to 2013. It used to own the Canadian rights to Hostess Brands products.
Bega Dairy & Drinks is a subsidiary of Australian diversified food company Bega Cheese, having been purchased from the Japanese company Kirin in November 2020. While owned by Kirin, it was known as Lion Dairy & Drinks.
Emanuele "Lino" Saputo, is an Italian-Canadian billionaire businessman. He is the founder of the Canadian cheese manufacturer Saputo Inc. According to Forbes, he is the 8th richest person in Canada and the 339th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$5.2 billion as of February 2020.
Uniq plc was a British food manufacturer. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, it was taken over by Irish foods conglomerate Greencore in 2011.
Jays Foods, Inc., is an American manufacturer of snack products including potato chips, popcorn and pretzels. Jays Foods was founded in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, and is currently a subsidiary of Snyder's of Hanover. Operating in several Midwestern states, Jays Foods' potato chips and popcorn maintain significant shares of their respective markets.
Fairmount Food Group, LLC (FFG) is a food industrial company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Established in 2003 by Bing Graffunder (CEO) and Sam Hillin (CFO), the company began with an initial $200 million in equity financing from GTCR Golder Rauner with the purpose of buying out growth companies in the industry.
Beecher's Handmade Cheese is an artisan cheesemaker and retail shop with locations in the Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington and New York City's Flatiron District. The company was founded by Kurt Beecher Dammeier in 2003 and opened in the Pike Place Market after Dammeier obtained a difficult to obtain storefront lease in the Market. Because Dammeier had never been a cheesemaker, he sought out the assistance of Brad Sinko, who helped run a family cheese-making business in Oregon. A second location was opened in 2011 in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.
Bothwell Cheese is Canada's largest independently owned cheese maker, known for its cheeses which are branded under the same name. The company, located in New Bothwell, Manitoba, was founded in 1936 as a co-operative by local farmers. It operated as such until 2002, when it was purchased by a group of private investors.
Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA.
The Marin French Cheese Company is a manufacturer of artisan cheese located in rural west Marin County, California. The company was founded in 1865 by Jefferson Thompson, and produces cheeses under the Marin French Cheese brand name. It is the oldest continually operating cheese manufacturer in the United States.
Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Company Holdings Limited (WCB) is an Australian-based company manufacturing dairy products, majority-owned by Saputo Inc., a Canadian company, that manufactures a range of dairy products under various brands. The business is based in Allansford, Victoria and is the oldest dairy processor in Australia, having been established in 1888. It owns cheese brands COON and Cracker Barrel.
Alto Dairy Cooperative (ADC) was a farmer-owned dairy cooperative in Waupun, Wisconsin. Founded in 1894, it is the oldest farmer-owned cooperative in the state of Wisconsin and boasts the nation's largest cheese producing plant east of the Mississippi River. As of 2007, ADC had two cheese plants, one in Black Creek and one in Waupun, as well as 467 employees. The cooperative has a membership of about 500 farmers. In 2007, it handled $378 million in sales and had a net income of $19.6 million.
Sargento Foods Inc. is an American food producer best known for its cheese. It was founded in 1953 in Plymouth, Wisconsin by Leonard Gentine and Joseph Sartori. The company name is a combination of Sartori and Gentine, with an "o" added to make the name sound Italian, as the company specialized in Italian-style cheeses. Sargento is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States, and is one of the country's largest retail cheese companies. The company offers profit sharing, tuition reimbursement and benefits for its employees. The company has been a sponsor in American motorsports for many years; for example, it is prominently displayed on Road America raceway.
Bega Cheese is an Australian diversified food company with manufacturing sites in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Founded as an agricultural cooperative in the town of Bega, New South Wales by their dairy suppliers, it became a public company in 2011 when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Close to half of shares publicly traded are still held by Bega's farmer-suppliers. It is currently one of the largest companies in the dairy sector in Australia, with a FY2018 base milk supply of approximately 750 million litres.
Edward William Coon was an American produce merchant and cheesemaker, who patented a cheese-ripening process that eschewed pasteurization, instead retaining the live bacteria to produce a cheese that was said to be more easily digested and have a more attractive flavor. His cheese-making process and name were drawn into the media spotlight in the wake of a controversy surrounding the name of the Australian Coon cheese.