A Washington State-based cheesemaker hopes to acquire a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin just days after the site’s owner announced plans to close the location and lay off its workers.
Prairie Farms Dairy of Davenport, Iowa, announced on July 20 that it would permanently end operations and lay off 54 employees at the White Hill Cheese facility in Shullsburg, Wisconsin. The company said it would also close the Shullsburg Creamery and cut 43 jobs. Twenty-one employees who will stay on to carry out the closures will eventually also lose their jobs.
Three days later, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Seattle-based Beecher’s Handmade Cheese intends to acquire the White Hill Cheese plant. The company’s plans include taking over the site in September, restarting operations and bringing back up to 40 of the laid off employees, pending a final sale.
Prairie Farms told the Journal Sentinel that the White Hill Cheese facility is “subject to a pending sale to a third party,” but did not name Beecher’s as the transaction remains incomplete. However, according to the publication, Beecher’s business development director Liam Dammeier had begun conversing with Prairie Farms prior to the closure announcement.
For Beecher's, the move would represent an expansion to the Midwest, with Dammeier explaining to the Journal Sentinel that the company’s needs had begun to “outpace its capabilities” in Seattle.
The White Hill Cheese facility began as a joint venture operation in 2010, producing Swiss cheese, Baby Swiss and grass-fed varieties. Prairie Farms acquired full ownership of the plant in 2020.
Prairie Farms and Beecher’s have not responded to IEN’s request for comment.
