OUR STORY

John Leeman was born the son of a successful architect in Zurich, Switzerland. Like so many European people, John immigrated in 1929 to America - the land of opportunity and settled in the "Little Switzerland" area of Ohio. John eventually became manager of the Stark County Milk Producers Brewster plant in 1933. No stranger to hard work, John provided a good living over the years for his wife and family. In 1965 the Brewster plant was put up for sale. John, who already owned much of the equipment used to run the dairy and his son, Fritz purchased the business and Brewster Cheese Company was born. In 1998 a second production plant in Stockton, Illinois (Stockton Cheese) was purchased and Brewster Dairy became the largest producer of Swiss cheese in the United States.

Today more than 400 dairy farms provide milk to our production plants in Ohio and Illinois. Most of this milk is used to make our award winning, all natural, Swiss cheese. The balance of the Grade A milk is sold to bottling plants for fluid drinking milk and the production of other dairy products.

Creating consistent, cost-effective, quality products is the goal of Brewster Dairy. This is accomplished through the dedication of our work force and keeping pace with new technology in the cheese making field. Our state-of-the art cheese plants operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, producing approximately 85 million pounds of Swiss cheese a year.

Most of the cheese produced at the Brewster plant is cut in a modern, high speed cutting facility. This facility is able to cut and package over 200,000 pounds of cheese daily. Our Quality Control departments provide the necessary quality testing for milk, cheese, whey and the other products we produce to meet the expectations of our customers.

The whey processing division of Brewster Dairy turns a cheese making by-product known as whey into whey protein and lactose powders in Ohio and condensed whey solids in Illinois. These products are used as ingredients in baking, infant formula, and hundreds of other dairy and non-dairy products. Much of the powdered products produced in Ohio is exported to foreign countries.