citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains embedded lists that may be better presented using prose . you can help by converting the list or lists to prose if appropriate . editing help is available . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message davisco foods international inc. type subsidiary industry dairy founded 1943 headquarters hq in le sueur minnesota ; manufacturing facilities around the u.s. sales offices in minneapolis geneva and shanghai . key people jon davis ceo products dairy products cheese whey protein whey protein isolates whey protein fractions lactose sweet dairy whey hydrolyzed whey protein whey protein concentrate alpha lactalbumin glycomacropeptide and more ... parent agropur slogan leading the whey protein with purpose website www.daviscofoods.com davisco foods is a company mainly concerned with dairy products headquartered in le sueur minnesota . the company markets such brands as bipro and biozate . they also own cambria the sole producer of quartz work surfaces in the u.s. 1 in 2014 davisco was acquired by the canadian cooperative agropur . 2 contents 1 the company 2 history 3 sponsorship 4 industrial food products 5 consumer food products 6 references 7 external links the company edit davisco foods international inc. is a cheese and food ingredient company based in le sueur minnesota usa . it began in 1943 when founder stanley davis purchased the st. peter creamery of st. peter minnesota . the company has since expanded to include plants in minnesota idaho and south dakota as well as sales offices in minneapolis geneva shanghai and strategic partners in the middle east japan and africa . davisco foods international was managed until 2012 by stanley s son mark davis . mark s son jon davis was appointed ceo from january 1 2012 . history edit 1943 1953 on august 1 1943 stanley davis decided to buy the st. peter creamery a dairy company located in his hometown of st. peter minnesota . harvey parson davis s former teacher was a partner in the creamery for six months as was eiler grand after that . when parsons and grand left to start their own companies elsewhere davis became the sole owner of the company . in 1944 world war ii brought a sudden change to the dairy markets ; the government wanted skim milk to ship overseas and began rationing butter . demand and prices for dairy products were high during this time permanently changing both the market and the business model of st. peter creamery . 1953 1963 when prices began to drop during the 1950s the st. peter creamery faced many challenges . in order to continue running the company stan davis decided to purchase a dryer . in 1959 stan davis s son mark began working for the company as a driver for the new bulk milk pickup route . 1963 1973 the dryer installed in 1956 made it possible for the st. peter creamery to service increasingly large milk routes by the early 1960s . eventually st. peter was servicing the bernadotte blue earth cleveland mankato nicollet pemberton and st. clair routes . the largest consolidation came in 1969 when stan davis and allen cords former classmates in dairy school at the university of minnesota decided to combine the milk supplies of the st. peter creamery and the le sueur cheese company . stan davis mark davis and allen cords each owned one third of the new business and mark davis became the manager of le sueur cheese . in 1970 the cheese plant in le sueur was expanded and another partnership was established with glen anderson a former employee . this led to the company taking ownership of another dryer this time at a plant in nicollet minnesota . 1973 1983 in 1973 a unique partnership was formed with fromagerie bongrain usa inc. a subsidiary of bongrain gerard s.a. based in guyancourt france . the company researched several united states locations and chose le sueur as the site for production of its camembert and brie cheeses . for eight years the american and french cheese plants clarification needed operated side by side in the le sueur cheese building until finally the value of international currency made the venture unprofitable . during the 1970s the st. peter creamery ended butter production and stopped taking milk from farmers . its capacity as a specialty drying plant tripled when a used spray dryer was rebuilt and installed in 1978 making necessary new warehouse and powder storage facilities in 1981 . another dryer was also added at the nicollet plant . 1983 1993 in december 1983 stan davis purchased a creamery in lake norden south dakota . it was a move that turned the business away from traditional ideas of profit in the dairy industry ; the lake norden plant would collect no milk gaining its profits solely from whey collected from the surrounding cheese plants . the lake norden site was immediately expanded to include an additional spray dryer and space for liquid and dry storage . in 1986 the three davis companies st. peter creamery inc. ; le sueur cheese company inc. ; and nicollet food products inc. merged to form davisco foods international inc. this move unified the company which now had plants in four locations . shortly after all four of stan davis s sons entered the family business . in 1991 davisco foods international acquired the welsh company that it was tied to in the production of bipro its whey protein isolate . during the same year mark davis decided to build a cheese plant in jerome idaho because there was a good milk supply in need of a processing plant . in 1993 the company decided to move the old st. peter creamery now a part of davisco s food ingredient division to le sueur minnesota . the new plant was designed to handle the increased volume and diversity demanded by a quickly changing food industry . 1993 2003 the 1990s brought rapid change to davisco foods international . bipro the whey protein isolate responsible for increased company profits in the 1980s found new applications in the consumer market . in 1994 the fully automated cheese plant in jerome received honors as food engineering magazine s new plant of the year . in 1995 pauline olson joined davisco food international s management team as the director of sales and marketing . also during this time the company hired new sales personnel and full time applications scientists . in 1998 jerome cheese company was selected as the prime site for the construction of a new whey processing facility . the operation became the only commercial whey fractionating plant in the united states to use chromatography methods . the addition of an automated cheddaring system later in 1998 increased plant capacity . as the company grew and the need for sales and marketing resources increased davisco foods international moved its original le sueur sales headquarters to eden prairie minnesota . the company later added sales offices in mexico city mexico and geneva switzerland . 2003 present during the 2000s davisco foods international launched a consumer line of whey protein products beginning with the sales of bipro whey protein isolate in march 2004 . at the end of 2006 the company began sales of two additional consumer products biozate a hydrolyzed whey protein isolate supplement and biozzz alpha lactalbumin . davisco foods international inc. announced the appointment of jon davis as president and chief executive officer effective january 1 2012 . sponsorship edit arnold classic twin cities marathon industrial food products edit cheese american types such as cheddar monterey jack colby and reduced fat varieties of those types soft italian types such as mozzarella and provolone bipro whey protein isolate bipro whey protein isolate alpha lactalbumin beta lactoglobulin glycomacropeptide gmp lactose powder sweet cream whey cream fractionated whey products lactose condensed whey consumer food products edit bipro unflavored whey protein isolate supplement biozate hydrolyzed whey protein supplement biozzz alpha lactalbumin references edit http www.cambriausa.com learn about.cfm agropur is buying minnesota s davisco foods . minneapolis st. paul business journal . retrieved 2016 01 25 . external links edit davisco foods international inc. bipro usa whey of life mankato free press september 2007 new dairy to be training ground for students international dairy foods association april 2007 publix super markets davisco foods and kemps named 2007 grand pioneer award winners business in geneva 2001 davisco establishes european headquarters in geneva connect business magazine 1998 davisco profile v t e minnesota based corporations fortune 500 corporations by size unitedhealth group target best buy supervalu chs 3m u.s. bancorp medtronic general mills xcel energy ameriprise financial c. h. robinson worldwide mosaic hormel thrivent financial for lutherans ecolab st. jude medical nash finch other public companies pentair valspar patterson companies securian financial group regis polaris industries toro deluxe donaldson fastenal federated mutual insurance company mts systems corporation major non public corporations alphabetically andersen cargill carlson holiday stationstores land o lakes schwan food company securian financial group related topics list of companies based in minneapolis saint paul retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title davisco foods international & oldid 742163423 categories 1943 establishments in minnesotacompanies based in minnesotaprivately held companies based in minnesotaamerican companies established in 1943food and drink companies established in 1943hidden categories articles needing additional references from october 2015all articles needing additional referencesarticles needing cleanup from october 2015all pages needing cleanuparticles with sections that need to be turned into prose 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