Houston’s Dairymen’s Best Creamery is now making dairy product, and some can be found on the shelves at multiple retail locations in town.
The plant in the Houston Industrial Park began producing yogurt and cheese products June 29, and Dairymen’s Best products are available in stores in many Missouri locations, including Town and County Supermarket and Corner Express in Houston, and the company’s own retail store inside its manufacturing facility on Mel Flowers Drive, just off of Industrial Drive (south of Highway 17).
“A lot of people still don’t know about us,” said plant manager Dave Cline. “But we’re getting out there now, and we’re doing what it takes to just keep growing our customer base.”
Including Cline, Dairymen’s Best currently employs 15 people. Milk for the products is provided by 65 dairy farms in a four-county area, and Cline said about a dozen types of cheese are currently being made, along with several flavors of cheese curds and six kinds of yogurt (including regular and Greek).
Employees of Dairymen’s Best Creamery package fresh cheese curds.
Everything is made from scratch from truly farm-fresh milk.
“When the milk that comes here gets here, it hasn’t been more than 48 hours since it came out of a cow,” he said. “When it arrives, we’re immediately making product, so it’s usually about 48 hours from when it comes out of the cow to when it begins becoming product.”
Coolers in the plant’s retail store are currently stocked with several types of cheese (both block and spread style), multiple flavors of cheese curds and all six types of yogurt. Cline said local residents can have some fun checking in at the on-site store.
“There’s going to be interesting things in there,” he said. “We’re going to have surprises that won’t be in the grocery stores. Since I’m a cheese maker, I like to play around and make some things you don’t normally find.
“There will be specialty things for the season, and other things depending on what mood I’m in.”
Dairymen’s Best Creamery representatives can often be found at the Houston Farmers Market on Friday mornings, offering samples and items for sale, and this weekend will set up at the big farmers market in Springfield.
“It does two things for us,” Cline said. “It gets us out there to be noticed, and it gives us instant feedback about whether people like our products or not.”
Cline said his staff has been instrumental in helping the fledgling company make it through some bumps during its formative stage.
“It’s been quite a ride,” he said. “But these people have been amazing. They may not have known a thing about doing this before they came here, but they’re learning a trade – they’re not pushing a button and making processed cheese, all of this is being done by somebody’s hands.”
Cline has 37 years of experience in the field and has opened four similar plants in the past. Office manager Jan Domokis said the Dairymen’s Best staff, the milk producers and city of Houston officials have all benefited from his knowledge.
“He’s the ‘head cheese’ in more ways than one,” Domokis said. “His life’s passion is to make cheese and to have all these people come together like this is like having all of them live his dream through their bodies.”
Since the idea of Dairymen’s Best Creamery was born more than three years ago, Cline has been adamant about the plant being a community-oriented venture.
“And the community has really come together and supported us,” he said.
The Dairymen’s Best project was made possible in large part through generous moves made by Houston City Adminstrator Larry Sutton, Economic Development Director Ron Reed and the Houston Industrial Development Authority.
“It’s been a long process, but we’re really happy to see it up and running,” Reed said. “It’s great for the community – it employs people and we want it to help stabilize our dairy community. There are a lot of things left to do, but it usually takes a year or so for a plant like this to really get on its feet.
“But the products are delicious and we’re excited about this.”
Dairy producers also had a major hand in making the plant a reality, by putting up money to guarantee payment on USDA Rural Economic Loan and Grant funding (also known as the REDLG, or “red leg” program).
“A lot of the farmers and their family members are volunteering their time to get out and do demonstrations in the stores,” Cline said. “There are more and more people with boots on the ground helping us spread the word.”
Cline said there is surely reason to believe the future is bright for Dairymen’s Best Creamery.
“It’s been a struggle and we still have a long way to go, but everybody’s hanging in there,” he said. “We’re a long way from being comfortable as a new business starting up, but there are a lot of rewards already coming out of this.”
Congressman Jason Smith shares a laugh with plant manager Dave Cline while standing inside a “cheese cave” during a visit to Dairymen’s Best Creamery in Houston last week as one of several stops on his annual “farm tour.”
The retail store inside Dairymen’s Best Creamery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 417-967-0294.
“We’re a long way from being comfortable as a new business starting up, but there are a lot of rewards already coming out of this.”
– DAIRYMEN’S BEST CREAMERY PLANT MANAGER DAVE CLINE