History of Penn Cheese
The story of Penn Cheese begins with a man named Eldore Hanni, a second-generation Swiss immigrant who began making specialty cheese as a teenager. His forte was developing new recipes. In the early 1970s, Hanni Landed at the Carr Cheese factory in Cuba City, WI and began working on a recipe of Baby Swiss. When demand exceeded production space in Cuba City, Hanni relocated to Pennsylvania, teaming with Amish locals to establish a cheese-making operation. Construction of the Winfield facility began in May 1977 and was christened two years later on May 8, 1979. Thomas Weber also from Cuba City, WI, was hired on as an apprentice. Price came on board in 1981 as an accountant. Hanni has since retired from the operation; Price took over general management of the company in the mid-1980s and is now part owner along with Weber, now a licensed cheese maker. The Penn Cheese Corporation was officially formed in 1991. In 1982, the company began supplementing its B grade milk supply, buying from Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association. Beginning in 1983 and continuing to now, 100 percent of the company's milk supply comes from cooperative members within a 100-mail radius of the plant. Penn Cheese handles roughly five to seven trailer-loads of milk each week, constituting about 1.25 to 1.75 million pounds of cheese annually. The company manufactures Baby Swiss and a reduced fat/reduced sodium Lacey Swiss, which is roughly in the same genre as the Heidi and Lorraine brands. It also manufactures a new hot Swiss, Smoked Baby Swiss, and Domestic Swiss. Penn Cheese markets its products under the Pennsylvania People and Market Place brands. The cheese is sold primarily east of the Mississippi specifically Pennsylvania and Ohio. However, the company does the bulk of its business through private label manufacture. It makes 60 to 70 percent of its cheese for private label sales available through distributors nationally. We primarily sell to wholesalers and distributors. The company's relatively small scale works to its advantage, though. Penn Cheese has maintained some of the customers that Hanni had in the early 1970's back in Wisconsin. There's lots of recipes out there for Baby Swiss. We may not be the cheapest, but we believe we're the best. Article parts from: "Penn Cheese $750,000.00 Expansion Project Slated For Completion By Late November Cheese Reporter 27 September 2002: 15.