PC: Fox 11 Online
LITTLE CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Wisconsin truly is the Dairy State, with its $54 billion industry.
If Wisconsin was a country, it would be the fourth-largest cheese producer in the world. And now, thanks to a local expansion, an iconic cheese brand is adding to that legacy.
Bel Brands USA has brought Laughing Cow cheese to Little Chute.
“Laughing Cow is a brand that has existed for over a hundred years throughout the world, and we’re happy to now produce it at the Little Chute factory,” said plant director Jason Meyer.
The iconic big red cow, with its dangling cheese box earrings, joins the ranks of Wisconsin favorites like Kaukauna and Merkt’s — other brands produced in Little Chute by Bel Brands.
“It’s an existing facility that already has some iconic Wisconsin brands, and bringing Laughing Cow into that fold, into that mix, expanding the facility a bit — doing that quickly and efficiently, and they’re up and running, it’s really exciting,” said Randy Romanski, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
The addition of Laughing Cow comes as the company invested $10 million locally. The investment brings 50 more skilled-worker jobs to the area.
Bel Brands added about 3,000 square feet of space onto its Little Chute facility. Renovations included making room for the Laughing Cow equipment.
Production starts with fresh ingredients and ends with packaging. Bel Brands even produces the round cheese boxes that hold those iconic cheese wedges; nothing ends up in a landfill.
“We also buy a lot of our raw materials right here in Wisconsin. We try to buy as much locally as we can. If we can’t buy it in Wisconsin, we try to get it from the Upper Midwest, so I think the economic value to this area is in the millions of dollars,” added Meyer.
The Little Chute facility already produces about 20 million pounds of cheese products a year. Bel Brands officials say Laughing Cow will add another three million pounds of product this year and five million pounds next year, with projections for 2027 to be seven million, in addition to the 18 to 20 million pounds already produced at the facility.
Bel Brands’ expansion doesn’t end in Little Chute. While the company wouldn’t get into specifics, it says expansion plans for a facility in the Green Bay area will be coming soon.
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