Melbourne-based Pure Dairy is partnering with the United States’ leading natural and processed cheese packager, Great Lakes Cheese.
In the past decade, Pure Dairy has gone from being a local business to building a vast trading network across 72 countries and opening four international offices.
The investment from Great Lakes Cheese will provide further impetus to this exponential growth, starting with Pure Dairy’s brand-new Victorian production facility, which is set to open in 2025.
Pure Dairy’s day-to-day operations will remain under Australian management.
“The investment from Great Lakes Cheese accelerates our plans to acquire further assets and consolidate Australia’s position as one of the world’s top dairy producers,” executive chairman Adrian Josephson said.
Great Lakes Cheese’s vice-president and chief financial officer Mark Anderson said the company was impressed by Pure Dairy’s existing global footprint and was excited to be part of its expansion.
“Their strong relationships and deep understanding of individual markets assured us that Pure Dairy are the right partner for us as we now make our very first investment outside of America,” he said.
With easy access to dairy producers and the booming export hub of Port Melbourne, Pure Dairy’s new plant will encompass an R&D kitchen, manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, as well as the Pure Dairy corporate office.
Featuring innovative state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, this facility will guarantee lean manufacturing and environmental sustainability to the highest accreditable global standards.
“The new facility will be a great asset to everyone in Australian dairy, because although we’ll now have our own production lines, the plant will also be open to collaborative as well as white-label manufacture — and we’ll continue to serve our customers with data-driven, unbiased advice,” Mr Josephson said.
“Great Lakes Cheese is well positioned to support sales of Australian dairy products to American retailers and food service businesses through their strong network.
“The synergies that our partnership creates are endless.
“Today’s dairy industry is about constantly looking for new opportunities, always employing the most powerful way to think about dairy. For this, there’s no stronger partner than Pure Dairy. We go beyond transactional business to form strategic relationships, and we have the global insights required to succeed.”
Established in 2011, Pure Dairy has evolved from a foundation in dairy commodity trading to include a full range of consulting and trade services across international commodity trading, food services and retail.
Pure Dairy’s multi-disciplinary teams cover every aspect of these complex value chains. They are constantly communicating with all parts of the industry — farmers, manufacturers, food service distributors, restaurateurs and consumers — right around the world.
With four international offices, Pure Dairy has forged strong relationships in some 72 countries.
Great Lakes Cheese is a leading natural cheese packager, an award-winning cheese manufacturer and a trusted long-term partner for a variety of retail, food service, and ingredients customers.
The company has a national footprint with facilities in Ohio, New York, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin and Texas.
Specialties include natural and processed shreds, slices, chunks and snack products.
Family and employee-owned, Great Lakes Cheese celebrated its 65th year in business in 2023.