Brice Wallace
A longtime dairy products company plans to expand its Logan operations, adding 52 high-paying jobs over the next eight years.
Schreiber Foods Inc., based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, announced the project after being approved for a tax credit incentive of up to $1.2 million by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) board at the board’s May meeting.
Founded in 1945, Schreiber has more than 9,000 employees on five continents and produces cream cheese, natural cheese, process cheese, beverages and yogurt. Its annual sales total more than $6.8 billion. Among its largest customers are McDonald’s and Walmart.
Steve Neeleman, chairman of the Go Utah board’s incentives committee, described the company as “a longtime, wonderful employer” in Cache Valley. “They are an absolute brand leader in everything that has to do with dairy products, cream cheese, natural cheese, etc.,” he said.
The company’s Logan operations have been in place since 1972 and produce cream cheese, natural cheese, process cheese and yogurt. It also has a distribution center.
“If you eat a cheeseburger, you can think of us and hopefully it adds to your experience of eating that cheeseburger because we make a lot of cheese that go on those burgers,” Scott Nelson, controller at the Logan plant, told the Go Utah board.
The $68 million expansion in Logan will modernize the company’s cream cheese processing capabilities, allowing it to produce more volume. The second phase will include the construction of a 300,000-square-foot cold storage facility.
The Logan plant produces over 400 million pounds of product annually and next year should be close to 450 million pounds, he said. The Logan plant already employs about 800 people, and another 350 work at a plant in nearby Smithfield.
“With our two [Logan] expansions, we’ll be pushing 900 and just continue to grow up here,” Nelson said.
The expansion is projected to result in new total wages of $14.3 million over eight years and new state tax revenue of about $4.17 million. The new jobs are expected to pay an average of $75,783.
“We’ve had a long, successful, great partnership with Schreiber,” Kirk Jensen, Logan’s economic development director, told the Go Utah board. “We appreciate all that they do, contributing to not just the economy in Logan but the community. We worked closely with them in past expansions and we’re happy to be right alongside of them with this one.
“It’s great to have those additional employees, more opportunities for people here in Cache Valley, and they involve themselves in the community, too, so it’s not just about the great jobs, which is obviously driving their quest, but we’re very fortunate to have them here.”
“We’re pleased to welcome the expansion of Schreiber Foods in Utah,” Ryan Starks, Go Utah’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “The company’s vision to ‘do good through food’ and create a positive impact in business and communities aligns well with our values in Utah.”
“Schreiber Foods has been a premier employer in Logan for over 40 years,” said Scott Cuthbertson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “This expansion demonstrates a commitment to their Logan-area employees and their confidence in Utah as a place to do business.”
Go Utah does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that an incentivized company meets the obligations in its contract with the state, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes the company paid to the state.