A proposed Leprino Foods cheese plant in Greeley, Colo. is still on track, but depressed milk prices may force a change in the schedule of how that new plant is built.
The $143 million, 847,000-square-foot plant, to be built on the former site of the Western Sugar Cooperative factory, will convert milk into cheese for use primarily on the nation’s pizzas. At its inception, Leprino said the plant would employ 260 people, with 500 total new jobs created when all construction is complete in later building phases.
But those phases may be changed due to economic conditions of the dairy industry, said Becky Safarik, community development director for the city of Greeley, who has been in regular contact with company officials.
“They (Leprino) are cautiously optimistic,” Safarik said. “I’m in contact with them almost every week, and they are still moving ahead, but they may be bumping their time line.” She said grading permits for the site east of 1st Avenue and 13th Street, are ready, and Leprino officials indicated they would pick those up by the end of the month.
She said she has been told the dairy industry may start to see improvement later this year, but how long that will take is up for conjecture.
The economy in general has forced businesses to slow, and that includes Leprino, which is the largest producer of mozzarella cheese in the country for the quick-service restaurant business. In addition to a plant in Fort Morgan and the planned Greeley facility, it has operations in Minnesota, New Mexico, Nebraska, California and the United Kingdom.
Leprino gets all of its milk from Dairy Farmers of America, a cooperative that includes most Colorado dairies. In addition to the mozzarella cheese it provides as diced and shredded product, it produces whey and lactose products, which it also will do at the Greeley plant.
In response to the current milk price crisis affecting dairy farmers across the country, the National Milk Producers Federation‘s newly-formed Strategic Planning Task Force met last week to focus on short-term solutions and to establish an aggressive schedule for addressing longer-term solutions to the problem.
The new group voted to recommend the utilization of the Dairy Export Incentive Program to its fullest extent. The program has the potential to export the equivalent of more than 1.5 billion pounds of milk. Jerry Kozak, president and CEO of the producers group, said that move will further aid efforts to correct the supply-demand imbalance at the heart of the financial crisis that has hit the industry.
6 Comments on “Leprino Plant Still on Track, but Delayed”
Leprino Foods does NOT have locations in Minnesota. In addition to the locations listed, the organization also has 2 locations in Michigan.
Leprino Foods does NOT have locations in Minnesota. In addition to the locations listed, the organization also has 2 locations in Michigan.
Leprino Foods does NOT have locations in Minnesota. In addition to the locations listed, the organization also has 2 locations in Michigan.
Please reconsider making cheese in Greeley at that location. It’s a stone’s throw from a sewage plant and the smell is disgusting. I can’t imagine eating any food product produced in that area. I know Greeley could use the jobs, but if people knew how bad that odor is, they would never eat cheese pizza again. Please reconsider and don’t build a food plant that close to a horrid smell, feedlots, and that smelly packing plant. There has to be a better location. I’ll be asking about the source of the cheese on any pizza I buy if they build there. I may never eat cheese pizza again.
Please reconsider making cheese in Greeley at that location. It’s a stone’s throw from a sewage plant and the smell is disgusting. I can’t imagine eating any food product produced in that area. I know Greeley could use the jobs, but if people knew how bad that odor is, they would never eat cheese pizza again. Please reconsider and don’t build a food plant that close to a horrid smell, feedlots, and that smelly packing plant. There has to be a better location. I’ll be asking about the source of the cheese on any pizza I buy if they build there. I may never eat cheese pizza again.
Please reconsider making cheese in Greeley at that location. It’s a stone’s throw from a sewage plant and the smell is disgusting. I can’t imagine eating any food product produced in that area. I know Greeley could use the jobs, but if people knew how bad that odor is, they would never eat cheese pizza again. Please reconsider and don’t build a food plant that close to a horrid smell, feedlots, and that smelly packing plant. There has to be a better location. I’ll be asking about the source of the cheese on any pizza I buy if they build there. I may never eat cheese pizza again.