Westby Cooperative Creamery

What Westby Cooperative Creamery does

Westby Cooperative Creamery is a farmer-owned dairy cooperative headquartered in Westby, Wisconsin, founded in 1903 and currently operated by approximately 100 member-farm families who supply milk daily to a single manufacturing facility. The cooperative produces cultured and hard-cheese dairy products — cottage cheese, sour cream, French onion dip, sweet cream butter, block cheeses, and string cheese — with both conventional and organic lines, and operates a resale line of WW Homestead Dairy cheese curds. It is the only cottage cheese manufacturer in Wisconsin and self-positions as the "Cottage Cheese Capital of Wisconsin." Core production technology centers on small-batch cultured dairy manufacturing with traditional recipes; an August 2025-announced $14.1M modernization installs four fully enclosed cottage cheese vats (each producing up to 5,700 lbs per run, totaling ~22,800 lbs daily), HEPA-filtered air environments, automated ingredient/testing/sanitation, a new 30,000-gallon milk silo, and upgraded refrigeration, cutting batch time from 16 to 8 hours and lifting yield 10–15% from the same milk input. Completion is targeted for fall 2026.

The cooperative runs four parallel revenue streams: direct-to-consumer retail through a Westby storefront and regional e-commerce shop; wholesale grocery distribution; food service bulk sales (5 lb tubs to 30 lb pails) to restaurants, schools, healthcare facilities, and food manufacturers; and a private label co-packing program for retailers, distributors, and food brands. Pricing on retail consumer SKUs is unit-based and publicly listed (e.g., cheese curds $6.99; sweet cream butter $5.75/lb; gift boxes $40–$148), while wholesale and food service pricing is quote-driven. The customer base is diversified across consumer retail, B2B wholesale, institutional food service, and private label, with no single named customer dominating; verticals explicitly addressed are food service, education, healthcare, and food manufacturing.

Governance is exercised by a seven-member farmer-elected Board of Directors, with professional management led by General Manager JD Greenwalt and VP of Finance Cheryl Cummings. The business holds SQF Level 3 (GFSI), MOSA Organic (covering ~75% of member farms), and Orthodox Union Kosher certifications, and has accumulated multiple state, national, and world championship awards in cottage cheese, sour cream, and dips since 2014. Ownership is structured as a cooperative — not PE- or VC-backed and not publicly traded; the $14.1M modernization project is the largest disclosed capital deployment in the company's history and represents its primary growth-investment signal.

Name

Westby Cooperative Creamery

Legal name

Westby Cooperative Creamery

Website

https://westbycreamery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1903

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Westby Cooperative Creamery is a farmer-owned dairy cooperative (founded 1903, ~100 member-farm families) producing cultured dairy — cottage cheese, sour cream, dips, butter, and cheese — serving retail consumers, wholesale grocery, food service (restaurants, schools, healthcare), and private label partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Dairy Manufacturing

NAICS

Dairy Product Manufacturing (3115), Dairy Product (except Frozen) Manufacturing (31151), Dairy Product (except Dried or Canned) Merchant Wholesalers (424430)

SIC

Dairy Products (2020)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultured Cottage Cheese & Quark Manufacturing (AFAHADAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Butter & Cultured Dairy (Yogurt, Sour Cream, Kefir) Wholesale (AFAIAEAB)

Keywords

• Dairy manufacturing
• Cultured dairy products
• Cottage cheese production
• Private label dairy
• Bulk food service

Headquarters

HQ city

Westby

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Dairy Product Sales: Revenue from selling cottage cheese, sour cream, dips, butter, cheese curds, and hard cheeses through retail, wholesale, and food service channels. Both conventional and organic product lines available.
2. Private Label Program: Partnership with retailers, distributors, and food brands to provide consistent, high-quality dairy products packaged under their label. Small-batch process provides flexibility for short runs and specialty products.
3. Food Service and Ingredients: Bulk-size dairy products (5 lb. tubs to 30 lb. pails) sold to restaurants, schools, healthcare facilities, and manufacturers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Westby Cooperative Creamery is a farmer-owned dairy cooperative that manufactures and sells cultured and hard dairy products — cottage cheese, sour cream, dips, butter, and block cheeses — made with milk supplied daily by approximately 100 member farm families in Westby, Wisconsin. The cooperative distributes branded products through its own retail store, an e-commerce shop, and wholesale accounts, while also offering bulk sizes to food service operators and a flexible small-batch private label program for retailers and food brands.

Product overview

Westby Cooperative Creamery is a farmer-owned dairy cooperative founded in 1903, producing cultured and hard cheese dairy products. The company's core product portfolio centers on cottage cheese (as the only cottage cheese manufacturer in Wisconsin), sour cream, dips, and butter - all made from milk sourced from approximately 100 family farms. The cooperative operates a private label program for retailers and offers bulk food service products. Recent expansion includes a $14 million modernization of cottage cheese production capacity. Products are sold under the Westby Creamery brand, with private label options, and include various cheese products purchased from other Wisconsin cheesemakers for retail sale.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cottage Cheese (Small Curd 4%, 2%, organic variants) Full-bodied, protein- and calcium-rich small curd cottage cheese made with milk from member farms, sold in conventional and organic varieties for retail consumers via the company's website, store, and wholesale grocery partners.
• Sour Cream (Conventional and Organic) Award-winning cultured sour cream in conventional and organic versions for retail consumers and food service operators, used as a garnish or recipe ingredient.
• French Onion Dip (Conventional and Organic) French onion dip made with real cultured sour cream and no oils or hydrogenated fats, available in conventional and organic versions for retail consumers.
• Sweet Cream Butter Lightly salted butter churned from fresh, rBST-free cream and packaged in 1 lb units for retail sale.
• Westby Creamery Block Cheeses (Cheddar, Colby, Colby Jack) Range of flavored natural block cheeses aged and packaged by the creamery for retail sale in 8 oz to 1 lb formats.
• String Cheese and Smoked String Cheese Natural string cheese and smoked string cheese sold through the creamery's retail category for snacking use.
• Grated Parmesan Grated parmesan cheese packaged in 8 oz units for retail consumers.
• WW Homestead Dairy Cheese Curds Award-winning squeaky fresh cheese curds in 13+ flavors sourced from WW Homestead Dairy and sold through the Westby Creamery retail store and online shop.
• Food Service and Bulk Dairy Products Bulk-size dairy products in 5 lb tubs to 30 lb pails (cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurts, and bulk butter) sold directly to food service operators, K-12 schools, healthcare facilities, and food manufacturers.
• Private Label Program Co-manufacturing service that enables retailers, distributors, and food brands to produce Westby-quality cultured dairy products under their own label with flexible small-batch run sizes and specialty SKUs.
• Gift Boxes Pre-assembled curated gift assortments of locally produced dairy products (Party Starter, MEGA Cheese, Dairy Farmers, Westby Value Pack, Westby Fun Pack, The BIG Cheese) priced $40–$148 for retail and gifting purchase.

Quantifiable outcome

• Production time reduced from 16 hours to 8 hours
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Starla's SeasoningscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Partnership between two Wisconsin favorites - Westby Cooperative Creamery and Starla's Seasonings. The collaboration brings together dairy and seasoning products for something delicious.
• WW Homestead DairyminorOthersWW Homestead Dairy cheese curds are sold through Westby Creamery's retail store and online shop. These award-winning cheese curds are available in multiple flavors.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Daisy Brand: Largest US cottage cheese and sour cream producer, with similar product portfolio (cottage cheese, sour cream, dips) and a focus on clean-label cultured dairy, directly competing with Westby in the same category and retail channels.
• Organic Valley: Large farmer-owned dairy cooperative specializing in organic dairy products (milk, butter, cream, cheese); shares Westby's cooperative structure, organic certification emphasis, and farmer-ownership model, competing in overlapping organic dairy categories.
• Cabot Creamery Cooperative: Farmer-owned dairy cooperative producing butter, cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese with a similar vertically integrated model and award-winning product portfolio, competing in regional and national cultured dairy markets.
• Friendship Dairies: Mid-Atlantic cultured dairy manufacturer known for cottage cheese and sour cream; directly comparable product mix and channel strategy targeting retail private label and branded cultured dairy.

Broad incumbents

• Breakstone's (Kraft Heinz): Iconic national cottage cheese and cultured dairy brand owned by Kraft Heinz, with deep retail distribution and growing cottage cheese investment; competes with Westby on shelf but operates at national scale across many categories.
• HP Hood: Large national dairy processor producing cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, and ice cream under brands like Hood and Breakstone's licensee products; competes with Westby across multiple cultured dairy categories.
• Land O'Lakes: Major farmer-owned dairy cooperative producing butter, cheese, and cultured dairy with deep Midwest roots; comparable cooperative structure and broad category overlap, though operating at significantly greater scale.
• Saputo Inc. Large multinational dairy processor with significant US operations in cheese, cultured dairy, and dairy ingredients; relevant as a broad incumbent with private label and food service scale that competes for the same retail and institutional customers.

Emerging players

• Hilmar Cheese Company: Large private dairy processor focused on cheese and whey ingredients with growing cultured dairy exposure; relevant comparable for dairy co-manufacturing scale, private label capability, and food service ingredient positioning.
• Stonyfield Farm: Organic-focused dairy brand producing yogurt, milk, and cultured dairy; comparable in organic certification, clean-label positioning, and premium retail channel focus, though stronger in yogurt than cottage cheese.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xfacebook.com/WestbyCreameryFanPage
• YouTubeinstagram.com/westbycoopcreamery
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/westby-cooperative-creamery
• Instagraminstagram.com/westbycoopcreamery

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Westby Cooperative Creamery