By Katie Spring, NE-DBIC Communications Manager
If you’ve ever tasted Casco Bay Creamery butter – whether it’s their classic sea salt or their savory garlic and herb or their sweet cinnamon sugar – you probably smiled when you took a bite.
And it’s highly likely that the people making that butter were smiling, too.
It may sound cheesy (though we’re talking butter here), but after visiting Casco Bay Creamery, the NE-DBIC team can attest to the smiles. One of the first things we noticed, in fact, was how everyone said hello to each other by name, from owners to managers to workers on the line.
“To come here felt like a big hug,” said the newly-hired Director of Operations. He’s not alone in that opinion, and not alone in being a newcomer to the company.
As recipients of a $644,530 NE-DBIC Existing Dairy Processor Expansion Grant, Casco Bay Creamery has tripled their production and gone from 14 to 46 employees over the past two years.
“The thing we’re most proud of is the expansion and number of jobs,” said creamery founders Alicia and Jennell. “Not only have we added positions, but we have also added benefits for our staff, which is another accomplishment of which we are immensely proud. We pay extremely competitive wages, and we offer a health insurance stipend, small group vision and dental, a 401K, and bonuses to our staff, all of which began during the grant period and would not have been possible without the capacity expansion this grant award has provided.”
With this grant, they’ve installed a second butter line, which includes a butter chopper, homogenizer, brick wrapper, and conveyor.
This equipment has allowed Casco Bay to automate their processes in big ways.
Rather than hand slicing 55lb blocks of butter to manually load the homogenizer, the new equipment automatically chops and loads the butter via a conveyor. It also efficiently forms, wraps, and packages sticks. Grant funds also allowed them to add a new butter cartoner, which groups and stacks butter bricks into carton boxes, onto their second production line.
The project doesn’t stop there – as part of their matching funds, Casco Bay installed a Clean-Out-of-Place System that reduces manual labor while increasing cleaning and sanitation efficiency. A new X-Ray machine and metal detector replaced rented equipment. Overall, this slate of new equipment has led to the tripling of production.
This expansion benefits companies beyond Casco Bay, too.
While they produce their own branded butter, the company also offers co-packing services, and they’ve found tremendous growth in this realm. By adding new co-packing clients and solidifying sales of their own brand, Casco Bay has been able to diversify their client base and quadruple the volume of butter sourced from the Northeast – from 20,000 pounds to nearly 80,000 pounds annually. This expanded capacity and production has positive effects beyond Casco Bay Creamery. As they provide additional business to local service providers and supply companies, they boost growth across their local Maine economy, too.
While non-dairy businesses try to avoid the word “churn”, Casco Bay Creamery is proving it’s good for business. From increased production to expanding the workforce to supporting the dairy supply chain, Casco Bay is churning out butter for business growth while supporting their employees, community, and the Northeast dairy sector along the way.
