Emmi Group Merging Specialty Dairy Businesses Into Darey Brands

Lukas Southard

Global dairy company Emmi Group is consolidating its California-based dairy producers Jackson-Mitchell and Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery under a new subsidiary: Darey Brands. The move is expected to streamline marketing, R&D and sales efforts while also improving supply chains, ingredient sourcing and innovation strategy.

Swiss-based Emmi Group acquired Redwood Hill Farm (makers of both the Redwood Hill and Green Valley Creamery lines) in December 2015 and Jackson-Mitchell (producers of Meyenberg goat milk products) over a year later in January 2017. The consolidation of Redwood and Jackson-Mitchell under Darey Brands formalizes the partnership that the two companies have had in place for the last five years.

The merger allows for a more efficient avenue for resource sharing and will consolidate the marketing department under one management structure, said Darey Brands managing director and CEO Bonnie Neulight in an email to NOSH.

Darey will draw on Neulight’s 20 years working in brand marketing. The executive last held the role of chief marketing and innovation officer at plant-based drink maker REBBL before joining Darey six months ago in order to transition the various companies into one management structure.

Of the two companies, Jackson-Mitchell, founded in 1934, will account for the majority of Darey’s retail sales. The company produces Meyenberg goat dairy products like milk, butter, and cheese from its headquarters in Turlock, California.

Roughly a half century old, Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery claims to be the first Certified Humane goat dairy in the United States. At its facility in Sebastopol, California the creamery produces a line of goat milk-based yogurt and kefir under its Redwood Hill Farm label as well as lactose-free, cow-milk based cheeses, butters, spreads and yogurt under its Green Valley Creamery brand (originally Green Valley Organics).

Lactose-free brand Green Valley Creamery

Cow milk sourcing will be less affected by the merger. However, sourcing goat milk year-round can be difficult for larger producers because goats bear kids in the spring, creating more milk volume in the summer than in the winter.

Joining the two goat milk brands under one leadership structure provides supply chain efficiency in sourcing, Neulight told NOSH. “Working more closely together as a merged company, will help us be even more successful in managing goat milk supply and support our network of dairy farmers.”

The consolidation under Darey Brands is also a way to maximize efficiency in sales through sharing of best practices, streamlined processes in innovation efforts and digital marketing spends, Neulight said.“Our sales team can present multiple brands as a portfolio strategy when they meet with retail buyers and we can present our brands together as a portfolio delivering specialized consumer needs to retailers and consumers alike,” she said.

All three brands already have nationwide distribution in grocery, mass, natural, specialty and online retailers but the merger offers the brands “a better position to now leverage scale with distribution vendors,” Neulight said.

Similar to the recent launch of Grass Fed Foods (a merger between beef producers Teton Waters Ranch and SunFed Ranch), consolidating sales teams is expected to bring more focus to brand strategy and “broaden distribution in existing and new sales channels,” Neulight said.

Although Darey Brands will now be centrally managing Redwood Hill Farm, Green Valley and Meyenberg, consumers will see no change in the brands’ product portfolios. The company is confident that each dairy business fulfills an independent consumer need. Although there is some overlap in product offerings (kefirs, yogurts, cheeses, etc.), each brand contributes to the overall portfolio strategy. Darey will also carry on the three brands’ focus on sustainability efforts including sourcing milk from Certified Humane goat farms, a reliance on 100% renewable energy at Redwood Hill Farm’s Sebastopol facility and extensive water saving programs, Neulight said.

Redwood Hill Farm products

Emmi Group, in-turn, will provide an overarching framework to the U.S. business, providing expertise gathered from its broad reach across 15 countries and $4 billion in 2021 sales. Although there are no plans to acquire other U.S.-based dairy brands at this time, Darey will be “constantly assessing new opportunities,” Neulight noted.

Though Darey would not detail specifics surrounding its innovation pipeline, Neulight noted that the merger will allow the three brands to lean into the plant-based dairy alternative market. For over 10 years, Redwood Hill Farm has also co-manufactured nut milk-based cheeses, spreads, butters, kefirs and yogurts out of its Sebastopol facility, running a different lines.

As plant-based milk adoption has grown among consumers, so too has interest in vegan alternatives to cheese and other dairy products. Plant-based dairy spreads, dips, sour cream, and sauces represent one of the fastest-growing vegan categories by dollar sales over the past three years, according to data compiled by alternative protein organization the Good Food Institute and data research company SPINS,.

Darey declined to comment further on its plant-based dairy business but did say that it sees the alternative dairy space as a way to continue the company’s goal of being a leader in better-for-you and better-for-the-planet foods.

“Our founders were innovative pioneers in healthy eating and sustainable agriculture long before these ideas became center-stage movements,” Neulight said.