Dean Foods

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Dean Foods
Public
Traded as NYSE: DF
Industry Food processing
Founded 1925
Headquarters Tower at Cityplace
Dallas, Texas
Key people
 Gregg A. Tanner, CEO & Chairman of the Board
Shaun Mara, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President
Gregg Tanner, President of Fresh Dairy Direct and Chief Supply Chain Officer
Products Milk, Dairy Products
Revenue Decrease $ 11.462 billion (FY 2012) [1]
Increase $ 427.79 million (FY 2011)[1]
Increase $ 161.04 million (FY 2012)[1]
Total assets Decrease $ 5.687 billion (FY 2012)[1]
Total equity Increase $ 357.19 million (FY 2012)[1]
Number of employees
 21,915 (December 2012)[1]
Website www.deanfoods.com

Dean Foods is an American food and beverage company that specializes in dairy products.[2] The company maintains plants and distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom.[3][4] Dean Foods has 100 facilities located in 35 American states as well as five manufacturing plants in the countries of Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.[5]

History

Dean Foods was founded by Samuel L. Dean, Sr., who owned an evaporated milk processing facility in Franklin Park, Illinois, in the 1920s.[6] After purchasing other Illinois dairy plants Dean developed the enterprise "from a small regional dairy into a diversified food company".[3]

Dean Foods headquarters in the Tower at Cityplace in Dallas

In December 2001, the legacy brand of Dean Foods was acquired by the Dallas-based Suiza Foods Corporation, who later adopted the Dean Foods name.[7] In 2005, Dean Specialty Foods was spun off from Dean Foods as Bay Valley Foods, LLC, a division of TreeHouse Foods, Inc.[8] In June 2005 TreeHouse Foods started trading on the New York Stock Exchange with a ticker of THS.[8]

In August 2006, Dean Foods acquired Jilbert's Dairy, a 70-year-old family business near Marquette, Michigan.[9] Dean Food's TofuTown brand was acquired by the Hain Celestial Group in June 2007. In December, Dean Foods bought the Wells Dairy milk plant in Le Mars, Iowa.[10] Dean Foods purchased Alpro in 2009 for an estimated US$455 million, making it a "global leader in soy beverages".[5] This resulted in a restructuring of the company that included selling off a number of subsidiaries, including Rachel's Organic.[11]

In the first quarter of 2010 the company moved to the Cityplace district of Dallas, Texas.[12][13] In October 2010, Dean Foods announced it was retiring the Schepps brand for dairy products in the Dallas, Texas area in favor of their Oak Farms brand. The Schepps brand had been in the Dallas market since 1942.[13][14]

In May 2015 Dean Foods announced that they would eliminate regional brands for its milk in favor of a single brand, DairyPure, which was already being used as a sub-brand under its previous regional marketing scheme.[15]

Controversies and legal actions

In 2001, the company was sued by seven former employees, who alleged the company failed to protect them from the harassment of other employees between 1993 and 2000. The case was settled in May 2003 with a $3.3 million out-of-court settlement.[16]

Shareholders filed a lawsuit against Dean Foods in 2003, alleging they underpaid in their agreement to acquire Horizon Organic Holding Corp. Dean Foods settled with the shareholders in May 2007.[16]

In March 2005 the Cornucopia Institute filed a complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging that their Horizon Organic subsidiary was violating "organic livestock management" standards.[17][18]

On May 12, 2008, the Cornucopia Institute filed a second complaint with the USDA again alleging that Deans Foods had violated federal organic regulations requiring access to pasture and fresh grass for their dairy cows.[19]

In 2009, the company was criticized by independent farmers who called it a monopolistic food broker.[20] In the fall, The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that the Cornucopia Institute had made complaints to the U.S. Department of Agriculture accusing Silk producer Dean Foods and its WhiteWave Foods division of shifting their products away from organics without properly notifying retailers or consumers.[21][22] According to the Star-Telegram, Silk brand soy milk was made using organic soybeans until early 2009, when Dean Foods switched to conventional soybeans while maintaining the same UPC barcodes and prices on the Silk products and replacing the word “organic” with “natural” on the product's packaging.[23]

Foremost Farms USA, a cooperative of over 2,000 dairy farmers in several mid-western states, sold its Wisconsin milk processing plants to Dean Foods in 2009.[24] In January 2010, the US Department of Justice and the state attorney generals office of Wisconsin and Michigan, filed a lawsuit objecting to the purchase and alleged that it created a monopolizing provider.[25] Dean Foods announced it was contesting the complaint.[26]

In 2011, a class action suit was brought against Deans Foods over health claims made on the packaging of Horizon Organic Milk.[27] In 2012, Dean Foods contributed $253,950 to fund opposition to California's ballot Proposition 37 which would require mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients.[28][29]

Products

Dean Foods products include frozen and canned foods, dairy products and condiments. It produces milk in the United States under a number of regional and national brands. The company licenses the Land O'Lakes brand, which markets several dairy products.[30]

National brands

Regional brands

Berkeley Farms logo

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "About Us." Dean Foods. Retrieved on August 2, 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Deans Foods Buys Alpro", Dallas Business Journal, 6 July 2009.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ [1][dead link]
  10. ↑ [2][dead link]
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Hethcock, Bill. "Dean Foods to relocate corporate office." Dallas Business Journal. Monday June 8, 2009. Retrieved on August 2, 2009.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Dean Foods hopes for milk rebound with DairyPure Fortune, May 4, 2015
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Responsible Shopper profile for Dean Foods, coopamerica.org, 2007.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Search results [dead link] at galegroup.com
  20. ↑ Burnett, John. "Independent Farmers Feel Squeezed By Milk Cartel", All Things Considered, National Public Radio. 20 August 2009.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. "The Cornucopia Institute made the complaints to the U.S. Department of Agriculture against Target and also accuses Silk soymilk producer Dean Foods and its Broomfield, Colo.-based WhiteWave Foods division, of quietly shifting their products away from organics."
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ [3][dead link]
  24. ↑ Barrett, Rick. ""Dean Foods acquires Waukesha, De Pere milk-processing plants." Journal Sentinel. April 2, 2009. Retrieved on February 16, 2010.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ [4][dead link]
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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