Tillamook County Creamery Association is for the first time expanding beyond the dairy aisle with two new prepared meals products.
The company has launched two premium frozen products: Tillamook Mac & Cheese and Tillamook Crispy Stone-Fired Pizza. The mac and cheese is out now in Target and Walmart, and the pizza line will be coming this fall.
The move is an example of the 114-year-old Oregon company’s expansion plans. Earlier this year, the company opened its first manufacturing plant outside of Oregon and last year the company’s revenue surpassed $1 billion.
“When we think about expansion at Tillamook as a whole it’s an ongoing process,” said Stephanie Carson, senior director of category growth. “The idea of expanding into categories and into this space isn’t new, but it’s about how we prioritize the choices. We’ve been working on frozen meals for a little of a year. We brought this to market quickly.”
Tillamook offers six categories of dairy products, including cheese, ice cream and yogurt. When exploring new items it can add, Tillamook's team members examine ways to maximize existing core dairy options. In this case, it offers a mac and cheese recipe that is hugely popular at its Tillamook Creamery cafe, at the manufacturing site.
“We were looking for a way to delight consumers with cheese and we have something special (at the creamery). How can we translate that?” Carson said.
Once the team was exploring frozen mac and cheese they looked at other “cheese forward” food and landed on pizza, she said. The mac and cheese is based on a revamped recipe developed by Josh Archibald, executive chef of culinary development for Tillamook, and released in 2022. It's available fresh at the Tillamook Market in the Portland airport and at the creamery.
To make these new products the company is partnered with a co-packer that has experience making frozen food and has the capital equipment to do so. Tillamook is working with Golden West Food Group, said Carson.
The recipes are all developed in-house at Tillamook and the company’s quality standards are followed by the co-packer, she added.
Tillamook's main investment linked to the new products is in moving its workers from other projects onto this one. Whether the company eventually creates its own manufacturing capabilities hasn't been decided at this point.
“Right now it’s not our core competency. But we are changing and evolving every day and we have huge ambitions to grow, but where we go it’s too early to be seen,” she said.
Golden West is also helping Tillamook with distribution, as moving from the dairy case to the frozen section involves new market dynamics and new buyers within retailers.
Overall, this expansion has been low on big expenditures, she said. The company is planning specific marketing campaigns.
“We hope to get into other cheese-heavy food. This (first foray) is going to help us validate if this resonates with consumers,” she said. “We think it will.”
