Turlock, CA – MEYENBERG Goat Milk Products CEO Robert Jackson announced today the sale of the company his family and the Mitchell family have owned since 1934 to dairy maker Emmi, a Swiss firm that is majority-owned by a cooperative of small dairy farmers. Meyenberg, Jackson-Mitchell, Inc. (“Meyenberg”), will continue to offer its long-term customers goat milk products as an independently operated subsidiary of Emmi Holding (USA), and is committed to maintaining steadfast supply relationships with the 55 family goat dairies that it supports. Emmi and Meyenberg have agreed to keep the terms of the acquisition confidential.
Meyenberg is the U.S. market leader and only nationally distributed fluid goat milk brand. Its farms and facilities process 25 million pounds of milk annually for U.S. and international markets, supporting more than fifty family-run goat dairies in California, Idaho, Kansas and Missouri.
“Since the beginning, I wanted to bring the benefits of goat milk to families seeking special dairy nutrition,” says Meyenberg CEO Robert Jackson. “Looking to the future, I see many opportunities to provide more consumers with this delicious and easily digestible alternative to cow milk. I feel confident that Emmi will continue to expand the work I started more than six decades ago at Meyenberg.”
The company will continue to do business as usual, with Jackson continuing as CEO during the transition and, as a member of the Board of Directors, assisting with the search for his successor. The company’s leadership team, including Chief Financial Officer, Doug Buehrle, and Chief Operations Officer, Frank Fillman, along with their 30 valued employees, will remain in place at the two production sites in Turlock, California and Yellville, Arkansas.
“At Emmi, we love goats,” says Matthias Kunz, Executive Vice President Americas for the Emmi Group. “Goat milk is a precious and highly seasonal resource, and demand for goat milk continues to increase. We are excited to welcome Meyenberg into the group of Emmi sister companies in California. We are dedicated to upholding its legacy and to serving the community of people who love goat milk as much as we do.”
Through its change in ownership to Emmi, Meyenberg joins a network of pioneering California food companies that are already benefitting from collaboration within the group, by exploring synergies in milk procurement, exchanging dairy production techniques and sharing marketing expertise. Emmi sister companies in California include goat dairy innovators Cypress Grove of Arcata, and Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery of Sebastopol, as well as artisan cheese maker Cowgirl Creamery of Petaluma.
About Meyenberg
– Owned by the Jackson and Mitchell families since 1934.
– The business was established to answer the demand of infants who could not digest cow’s milk. The first pioneering product was evaporated goat milk sold mostly in pharmacies.
– Today the company has achieved leading status by consistently anticipating trends in nutritional needs and consumer demands.
– Today the company produces evaporated goat milk, non-fat and whole powdered goat milk, fresh whole and low fat pasteurized goat milk, award winning European-style goat butter and aged cheddar cheese.
– Products are available in 90% of supermarket chains and leading health food stores nationwide.
– Two production plants in Turlock, California and Yellville, Arkansas produce 25 million pounds annually.
About Emmi
Emmi is the leading Swiss milk processor and one of the most innovative premium dairies in Europe. Emmi’s history dates back to 1907, when 62 dairy farmers in central Switzerland formed a cooperative that would become the company “Emmi.” To this day, Emmi is majority-owned by a cooperative of small-scale dairy farmers who farm an average of less than 30 cows. In Switzerland, the company focuses on the development, production and marketing of a full range of dairy and fresh products as well as the production, aging and trade of primarily cheeses from Switzerland.
Outside Switzerland, Emmi concentrates on brand concepts and specialties in established European and North American markets, and increasingly in emerging markets outside of Europe. The primary focus in fresh products is on natural, lifestyle, convenience and health products. In the cheese business, Emmi positions itself as the leading company worldwide for cheeses from Switzerland. Emmi’s customers are the retail trade, the food service sector and the food industry.
In Switzerland, the Emmi Group includes around 25 production sites of every size. Outside Switzerland, Emmi and its subsidiaries have a presence in 13 countries, seven of which have production facilities. Emmi exports its Swiss-produced dairy products to around 60 countries around the world.
Source: Emmi