Dean Foods

Dean Foods

Healthy Foods, Healthy Families.
Type	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	$ 11.462 billion (FY 2012) [1]
Operating income	$ 427.79 million (FY 2011)[1]
Net income	$ 161.04 million (FY 2012)[1]
Total assets	$ 5.687 billion (FY 2012)[1]
Total equity	$ 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]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[7]

In 2005, Dean Specialty Foods was spun off from Dean Foods as Bay Valley Foods, LLC, a division of TreeHouse Foods, Inc.^[9] In March 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.^[10][11]

In June of that year, TreeHouse Foods started trading on the New York Stock Exchange with a ticker of THS.^[9]

In August 2006, Dean Foods acquired Jilbert's Dairy, a 70 year old family business near Marquette, Michigan.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

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. ^[15] The complaint was dismissed by the USDA.

Dean Foods headquarters at Cityplace Center, Dallas

In 2009, the company was criticized by independent farmers who called it a monopolistic food broker.^[16] In the fall, St. Paul Pioneer Press reported 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.^[17][18] 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.^[19]

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.^[20] 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.^[21] Dean Foods announced it was contesting the complaint.^[22] The company moved to Cityplace Center in the Cityplace district in the first quarter of 2010.^[23][24] In October, 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.^[24][25]

In 2011, a class action suit was brought against Deans Foods over health claims made on the packaging of Horizon Organic Milk.^[26] 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.^[27][28]

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.^[29]

National brands

• TruMoo
• Swiss Premium Tea
• Fruit Rush

Regional brands

• Alta Dena, Southern California, Arizona
• Barber's, Alabama, parts of Mississippi, Georgia and Florida

• Berkeley Farms, San Francisco Bay Area, California. Founded 1910
• Broughton Foods, Southeast Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, Western Virginia and West Virginia
• Brown's Dairy, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida
• Country Fresh, Michigan and Wisconsin
• Creamland, New Mexico
• Dean's, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania
• Gandy's, West Texas
• Garelick Farms, New England
• Hygeia Dairy, South Texas
• Land O'Lakes, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin
• Lehigh Valley, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
• Louis Trauth Dairy, Kentucky and Ohio
• Mayfield Dairy, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky
• McArthur Dairy, South Florida
• Meadow Brook, Pennsylvania and New York
• Meadow Gold Dairy, Missouri, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii
• Model Dairy, Nevada
• Oak Farms Dairy, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma
• PET Dairy, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia
• Price's Creameries, El Paso, Texas and Southern New Mexico
• Purity Dairies, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama
• Reiter Dairy, Ohio
• Swiss Premium, Central Pennsylvania
• T.G. Lee, Florida
• Tuscan, New York and New Jersey

See also

• FTC v. Dean Foods Co., 1966 decision of the US Supreme Court

References

External links

• Official website
• Dean Foods SEC Filings
• Dean Foods info at Business Week