Lifeway Foods Inc., of Morton Grove, Ill., won an auction Tuesday in New Jersey to purchase the Waukesha-based Golden Guernsey dairy processing plant.
The auction took place more than four months after the Golden Guernsey plant closed and later filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
The company, which won the auction with a $7.4 million bid, said it would like to reopen the plant this summer.
Bankruptcy Trustee Charles Stanziale Jr. had accepted bids through Friday. A hearing with Lifeway Foods is scheduled for June 10.
Other challenger
Besides Lifeway Foods, the other bidder was the Canton, Ohio-based LEL Operating Company, the parent company of Superior Dairy Inc. According to online court reports, LEL had offered $5.5 million for the plant in February.
It had put down a $500,000 deposit, according to the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. It was reported that Superior Dairy was outbid by Lifeway Foods on Tuesday by $100,000.
Lifeway Foods Inc., founded in 1986, is America's leading supplier of the cultured dairy products kefir and organic kefir.
Lifeway Kefir is a dairy beverage that contains 10 live and active probiotic cultures plus ProBoost. In addition to its line of Kefir products, the company produces a variety of Frozen Kefir and probiotic cheese products.
Morton Grove is a village about 15 miles north of Chicago.
Growing financially
Having the appropriate financial security is needed for the plant. And Lifeway Foods Inc. is off to a strong start as gross sales results for the first quarter of 2013 increased by about 27 percent to $27.4 million compared to $21.6 million in the same period last year.
Total consolidated net sales increased by about 27 percent to $24.7 million during the three-month period that ended March 31 from $19.4 million during the same three-month period in 2012. The record sales increase was due to new retail distribution expansion, product additions and increased sales to existing retail customers, a news release said.
Total consolidated gross sales for 2012 increased 16 percent or $12.6 million to approximately $89.8 million from $77.1 during the same 12-month period in 2011. Total consolidated net sales increased 16 percent or $11.4 million to $81.4 million in 2012 from $70.0 million during the same 12-month period in 2011.
Lifeway was recently named one of Fortune Small Business' Fastest Growing Companies for the fifth straight year.
Given this success, Lifeway Foods announced last week it was expanding into the UK with a distribution agreement for Lifeway Frozen Kefir. Lifeway Frozen Kefir is carried in more than 1,000 U.S. stores.
Mayor Jeff Scrima is excited to welcome Lifeway Foods into the community.
"We're encouraged to hear this news as we understand and support the free enterprise system," Scrima said. "We are here to assist new businesses in growing in the City of Waukesha."
100s were out of work
The news wasn't encouraging in early January when Golden Guernsey, 2101 Delafield St. in Waukesha, unexpectedly shut down, leaving more than 100 employees out of work.
The closure came after Golden Guernsey had underwent recent transactions.
OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles private equity firm, bought the plant in 2011 after its former owner, Dean Foods, was required to sell the plant to settle antitrust concerns.
Before that, Dean Foods had acquired the Waukesha plant from Foremost Farms USA of Baraboo in 2009 for $35 million.
Golden Guernsey had a long history in the area as it opened in 1930 in Milwaukee before moving to Waukesha in 1955.
Districts found new option
In addition to those out of a job, the closing also left school districts and grocery stores who utilize Golden Guernsey products scrambling when the announcement was made.
In April, 13 area school districts that previously used Golden Guernsey entered into a contract with Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., of Carlinville, Ill.
In a news release from the Southeast Wisconsin School Nutrition Cooperative, Prairie Farms was picked over Kemps of St. Paul, Minn., and Dean Foods Co. The contract begins next school year.
Waukesha schools were unaffected by the shut down, as Superintendent Todd Gray said his district receives Kemps milk from Sodexo Inc. in Milwaukee.
Moreover, the products that were left inside the facility after it closed were donated shortly after to local agencies, including food banks such as the Food Pantry of Waukesha County.
For more information on Lifeway Foods visit its website at www.lifeway.net.