Jeff Kleinpeter talks enthusiastically about the dairy business his family founded nearly 100 years ago. Really enthusiastically. And then he tells you how he values customer service and his employees and how much he cares about the community, and you feel like you’re listening to a commercial.
But then you realize it’s not just a sales pitch—and the passion Kleinpeter and his sister, Sue Anne Cox, have for the family business they run is genuine. It’s one of the main reasons the dairy has not only endured, but thrived in a day and age when most local dairies have folded or been bought by big conglomerates.
“We’re crazy about this business,” Kleinpeter says. “Actually, we’re insane about it. We live, breathe and sleep it.”
It’s an infectious passion and a driving force behind the company, which since 1913 has remained committed to its founding principles of putting the customer first. As a practical matter, that means delivering consistently high-quality products to a local—and now regional—market, where it maintains strong ties. That passion also is the reason Kleinpeter Farms Dairy is growing despite tough economic times, expanding its product line as well as its marketing budget.
“We’re expanding, and that’s because we’re operating from a position of strength,” says Kleinpeter, the company’s president. “It’s an exciting time for us.”
Few companies can say that in the midst of a recession, but then there aren’t many companies with a history like Kleinpeter Farms Dairy. Its roots date to colonial times; the Kleinpeter family settled in Baton Rouge in the 1770s and was a leading player in the cotton industry. The family also farmed and eventually grew a successful sweet potato business.
They entered the dairy business somewhat by an accident, or so the story goes. It happened in the early 1900s, when an LSU professor told family patriarch Sebastian Kleinpeter, Jeff and Sue Anne’s great-grandfather, the waste product created from their cotton gin made for excellent cattle feed. The family had several cows and plenty of excess cotton gin waste, and the seeds of the dairy business were planted. In 1913, Kleinpeter Farms Dairy formally incorporated, with Sebastian Kleinpeter and his son, Leon Kleinpeter, at the helm.
In those days, local dairies were a dime a dozen, and the Kleinpeters were one of many. But throughout the early years of the 20th century, the company gradually expanded and increased its market share. For the first half of the century, the dairy and the farm were housed on the family’s Highland Road property. In 1954, Kleinpeter Farms Dairy built the processing facility on Airline Highway from which it still operates. In 1997, the farm relocated to a 1,600-acre site in Montpelier, about 50 miles northeast of Baton Rouge.
Today, Jeff Kleinpeter and Cox, the company’s CFO, are the only two of the many Kleinpeter family descendents who run the business. They share ownership with their siblings, but they alone are involved in the day-to-day operations.
There is plenty to keep them busy. Kleinpeter Farms Dairy and its 185 employees produce some 60,000 gallons of milk a day. It’s a process that begins early each morning, when two-thirds of the 700 cows in Montpelier are milked, and continues as the raw milk is transported in Kleinpeter trucks to the Airline Highway plant for processing.
The company handles its own distribution, delivering its milk to some 3,000 stores, restaurants and institutional facilities within a 150-mile radius. Kleinpeter also distributes its own private-label eggs, butter, sour cream, dips and seasonal products. Though it doesn’t actually produce any of those products, which it buys from a variety of suppliers around the country, they account for a healthy 15% to 20% of company sales.
Kleinpeter Farms Dairy also has its own line of ice cream, which it does manufacture locally. The confection was introduced last year after a $5.5 million expansion. So far it’s exceeding expectations, with some 50,000 gallons flying off store shelves each month. Pint-sized containers recently were added to the product mix, and single-serving portions will be rolled out later this year.
The company also has added several new flavors since introducing vanilla and chocolate last year, each of which has a local connection. There’s strawberry, made with Ponchatoula strawberries; pralines and cream, made with Aunt Sally’s Pralines; sweet potato pie, made with Bruce Foods sweet potatoes; coffee, made with Community Coffee; and Gold Brick Egg, made with the signature Easter candy from Ponchatoula-based Elmer’s Candy Company.
It’s a more expensive way of doing business, but it goes to the heart of the way Kleinpeter likes to operate—by partnering with the community, adding value and keeping it local.
“Business is good,” he says. “Now, are we the cheapest in the dairy case? No. But it’s not about price. It’s about value, and we’re delivering value.”
Business is good for the dairy. Volume is up about 12% over last year and nearly 40% over the past three years. Revenues don’t reflect that growth because the price of milk nationwide has dropped, but Kleinpeter isn’t worried.
On the contrary, the company has expanded its distribution network, moving into the Lafayette, New Iberia, Opelousas and Lake Charles markets. Shoppers in Lake Charles had been asking Kleinpeter to start distributing there for years, but until last month, no stores west of Lafayette carried the company’s milk. “We weren’t thinking outside the box,” Kleinpeter says. “We were asking why, instead of why not.”
Especially when you consider that Kleinpeter is one of just two local dairies in the state—and is much larger than the other, Smith’s Creamery in rural Washington Parish. It’s also one of just a handful in the region and one of only 50 remaining nationwide.
Kleinpeter says part of the reason it has survived is by keeping its focus on its flagship product, milk. By comparison, many dairies in the 1970s tried to increase their volume by supplying supermarkets and big chains with private-label products. It helped volume for a time but ate up profits, which proved fatal as the costs of operation increased.
“As that happened, many dairies woke up one day and realized they could no longer make it,” Kleinpeter says. “But we’ve always been dedicated to keeping our focus on Kleinpeter and never cutting the value of that product.”
The dairy also has placed a lot of emphasis on customer service and community outreach, which has enabled it to maintain its brand identity.
“Being there for the community and helping to support the community is important to us,” Cox says. “It’s a tradition that can be traced all the way back.”
As it looks to the future, Kleinpeter Farms Dairy hopes to continue its expansion—both geographically and in terms of products it offers. But Kleinpeter doesn’t want to lose sight of what has remained his company’s first and highest priority.
“This isn’t just a business. It’s our family business, and we built it by giving the customers more value than they paid for,” he says. “We buy into this philosophy more than most businesses.”
Company of the Year [100 or more employees]: Kleinpeter Farms Dairy
Year founded: 1913
Employees: 185
Accomplishments: Opened the only ice cream plant in Louisiana after 95 years in business, creating more than 20 jobs. Expanded sales territory to include Lafayette, New Iberia and Opelousas. Last month began distribution of milk and ice cream in Lake Charles.
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