Kleinpeter expanding into Mississippi

Kleinpeter Farms Dairy has launched its first major expansion outside of Louisiana, offering its milk in Rouses grocery stores on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Kleinpeter milk is now available at Rouses supermarkets in Diamondhead, Gulfport, Long Beach, and Ocean Springs, Miss. The milk is also being served at St. Stanislaus College Preparatory School in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Jeff Kleinpeter, president of the dairy, says the agreement to enter the Mississippi market came out of the ties the company developed with Rouses while working to get the Smith Creamery products back on store shelves. Kleinpeter is handling distribution and packaging of Smith Creamery milk, half-and-half and cream as the Washington Parish dairy recovers from a devastating explosion. “Rouses is a great family-owned business that cares about other family-owned businesses,” Kleinpeter says. “As we worked together to help out the Smiths, our teams got to know each other even better, so the move into Mississippi is a natural result of that cooperation.” The move is expected to lead to a further expansion in Mississippi; Kleinpeter notes that former Louisiana residents in cities such as Jackson, Hattiesburg and Natchez have been asking for their products. Over the past four years, Kleinpeter has expanded its service area from metro Baton Rouge and New Orleans to as far west as the Texas border and as far north as Alexandria. Plans are in the works for a substation in Lake Charles, which will eventually allow the dairy to enter Texas.