401 South Main Street, Westby, WI54667
Telephone: 608-634-3181 Fax: 608-634-3194
General Manager Update Letter – July, 2010
We are now more than halfway into our fiscal year 2010, and can say with pride that Westby Cooperative Creamery is continuing to grow; thanks to you, our many loyal customers. According to first-half figures, we are up significantly in volumes of cultured dairy products produced.
This growth is across all product categories – cottage cheeses, sour creams and dips, yogurts and cream cheeses; and all customer channels – Westby Brand Distributors, Private Label Brands, Food Service and Ingredients. We are pleased to welcome dozens of new customers within each of these channels.
Production volume growth is good, and we can handle it; from milk procurement to plant capacity. We are presently operating at about 70 percent plant capacity; keeping pace with increasing demand for our many products, with plenty of room for more growth. More importantly, we are maintaining an outstanding 99.6% order-fulfillment rate. So, keep those product orders coming; we appreciate your business.
According to Mark Levendoski, our Board President, “We want to thank the dedicated and experienced employees of Westby Cooperative Creamery for their devotion to product quality and customer service. Their commitment to training, safety, and hard work form the backbone of our business success and growth. Based on our growth over the past few years, the Board is now addressing long range business expansion plans. We are actively planning for continued investments in our second century of operations and business growth.”
We are also experiencing growth in demand for organic products, and remind you that many of our Westby Patrons are certified organic by MOSA (Midwest Organic Services Association). If you’re interested in our organic product capabilities, please give me a call.
Speaking of organics, we just received a USDA Value-Added Grant to develop a line of Westby brand Organic Hard Cheeses, Cottage Cheeses and Sour Creams. We’ll share more information as planning progresses.
New Product Development
While still in the early stages of development, we are planning to expand our line of Dip flavors. Several new flavors are being tested, many as suggestions from you. And remember, Westby Dips are sour cream based; they are real “dairy dips,” not oil or mayonnaise based. We are also experimenting with a product line of Farmer’s Cheese, also at the request of a current customer. There will be more information on these product additions as we continue the development and testing process – stay tuned.
We love new product ideas, and due to our unique batch-processing production system we have the ability to develop and test new product ideas through limited production runs. With that comes years of technical expertise and knowledge of regulatory compliance; plus, industry and university food science connections, branding and packaging design services, and solid relationships that make the supply chain work for you. We call it Westby “ability & agility” – so, if you have new product or flavor or ingredient ideas, please give me a call; we’d like to discuss those ideas with you; we have a few of our own as well.
Other News
I would like to personally invite all of you to visit our new website – WestbyCreamery.com – which was launched in June. You’ll not only find the latest news and information on our products and other developments here at the creamery, and meet some of our many Patrons; but, it will also be a future resource for our customers to download Westby point-of-sale materials and other promotions as we continue to build onto the website. So, please visit often.
Also, we are currently constructing a comprehensive Store Locator tool, which will allow consumers to search on a zip code basis for local grocers that carry Westby brand products.
We hope this website becomes a tool for you as well, so please feel free to send any feedback directly to me, or Mark Rutlin as Sales Manager (608-692-7179).
There are many exciting things happening here at Westby Cooperative Creamery, most of which are due to you, our customers. We very much appreciate your business. We wish you a prosperous second half to 2010, and look forward to further working with you to meet the demands of your business and your customers.
Sincerely,
Pete Kondrup
Pete Kondrup
General Manager
Phone: (608) 634-3181, ext. 20