New facility in Buffalo, New York is a center of excellence to drive innovation, quality and enhance the customer and consumer experience with the company’s dairy products
BUFFALO, N.Y., Jan. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lactalis USA announces the opening of its Culinary & Sensory Institute in Buffalo, New York, a facility designed to help expand its culinary expertise in multiple channels. The new institute is a center of excellence for Lactalis’ North American culinary and sensory channel operations for fostering innovation, enhancing customer and consumer experiences with the company’s dairy products and testing product quality. Lactalis USA is a subsidiary of Lactalis, the world’s largest dairy company.
“The Culinary & Sensory Institute exemplifies our commitment to providing delicious, nutritious dairy products that resonate with the evolving tastes and demands of our consumers,” said Esteve Torrens, Lactalis USA CEO. “It allows us to monitor the quality and performance of products from across our U.S. portfolio and ensure their consistency. Our U.S. business has grown steadily since entering the market in 1980 and this institute helps fulfill a key aspect of our future growth strategy by continuing to drive improvement.”
“Our institute maximizes the impact of our culinary sales operations by deepening our customer relationships,” added Jean-Luc Bruandet, president & CEO of Lactalis American Group, a division of Lactalis USA that oversees food service sales. “The Culinary & Sensory Institute allows us to work in collaboration with key partners to create recipes and collect feedback that will ensure our products fulfill their needs and expectations. It aligns with our vision to drive relevant dairy innovation to stay ahead of consumer trends and produce the highest quality products for our customers and consumers.”
The Culinary & Sensory Institute comprises commercial and residential kitchen spaces where Lactalis chefs actively address customer and consumer needs by hosting customers to explore innovative ways to expand menu and retail offerings using equipment found in restaurants and home kitchens. Lactalis chefs also create new recipes and concepts in the institute and further foster dairy product innovation. Additionally, the institute is a central location for sensory panels to sample Lactalis products for quality assurance and compare them against competing brands.
The institute represents a $2 million investment in Buffalo, where the company has invested more than $111 million since 2020 including projects to modernize its manufacturing facility and increase its production of Galbani® Mozzarella, Ricotta and whey powder.
About Lactalis in Buffalo, N.Y.
Lactalis has operated in Buffalo since 1992 and currently produces Galbani® Ricotta, Mozzarella and Provolone, whey powder and President® Brie cut-and-wrap at its manufacturing facility on South Park Ave. Galbani cheese is the Official Cheese of the Buffalo Bills and is a brand more than 140 years old. Lactalis annually produces more than 280 million pounds of dairy products in Buffalo and collects more than 700 million pounds of milk annually, supporting more than 150 local dairy farms. Lactalis employs more than 700 people in Buffalo at two corporate offices and a manufacturing facility.
About Lactalis USA
Lactalis USA is committed to enriching lives by producing nutritious and great tasting dairy products. The company offers an unrivaled house of beloved dairy brands in the United States including Galbani® Italian cheeses, Président® specialty cheeses and gourmet butters, Kraft® brands in natural and grated cheeses, Breakstones® cottage cheese, ricotta and sour cream, Cracker Barrel® cheese, Black Diamond® cheddar cheese, Parmalat® milk, siggi’s® and Stonyfield Organic® yogurt brands. In the United States the company has approximately 4,000 employees, is present in eight states with 11 manufacturing facilities and corporate offices located in New York City and Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill., Bedford, N.H., and San Fernando, Calif. Lactalis USA is part of Lactalis Group, the world’s leading dairy company, a French family business founded in 1933 in Laval, France.
For more information, visit https://lactalisamericangroup.com/, www.lactalisheritagedairy.com, www.lactalisyogurtusa.com and www.karouncheese.com. Follow Lactalis USA on Instagram and like us on Facebook.
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CONTACT: Don Heins Lactalis USA don.heins@us.lactalis.com
