November 2, 2020

 

Fonterra to work with Land O'Lakes to expand US food service business

 

 

To open more doors for its US food service business, Fonterra has entered a sales and marketing agreement with Land O'Lakes, Inc., one of the United States' leading dairy co-operatives.

 

The arrangement will open up opportunities to expand the reach of Fonterra's food service products into other US food service outlets.

 

Fonterra's global director of food service, Paul Harvey, said the US is the largest dairy food service market in the world, as well as the most competitive.

 

"Land O'Lakes works with all major US national and top regional foodservice distributors and this will help enable potential national distribution of Fonterra products," said Harvey.

 

"While Fonterra has been in the US food service market for a number of years, breaking into it at any great scale requires a fresh approach. By working with Land O'Lakes, we will have access to a strong, well-established distribution network and their large customer base."

 

Harvey added: "A big part in securing the partnership was our reputation for developing a range of innovative dairy products, along with our commitment to food safety and quality, which gives people confidence to choose our products.

 

"Land O'Lakes will help us distribute, promote and sell our cooking creams and cream cheese and, in the future, we will look to expand our relationship into other categories such as cheese products."

 

"We are excited to leverage the knowledge and expertise our two co-operatives have in dairy with a broader portfolio of products designed to help food service operators make the most of dairy in their kitchens," said Catherine Fox, vice president of marketing at Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods.

 

Greg Somerville, vice-president of sales at Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods, said: "As a result of COVID-19, performance products in food service will be of utmost importance to operators. The Land O'Lakes food service sales team is looking forward to adding Fonterra's high-performance products to our portfolio, which will enable us to provide an expanded range of solutions to existing and new segments and operators."

 

According to Harvey, Fonterra is aware that it would develop its food service markets when it launched its value focused strategy last year.

 

"We want to do this by collaborating more with like-minded partners, leveraging our intellectual property and skills, rather than making significant capital investments of our own. This agreement with Land O'Lakes is a great example of this and one we could look to apply in other markets too," Harvey said.

 

- Fonterra