By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
FRANKLINVILLE — Great Lakes Cheese Co. employees have made the first cheese at the new $700 million plant in Franklinville — an Italian cheese.
The first tanker loads of milk from local farms that were received Nov. 18 have been turned into Mozzarella cheese, Matt Wilkinson, Great Lakes Cheese vice president for Technology and Business Development, said Monday.
Wilkinson said Great Lakes Cheese Co., based in Hiram, Ohio, has managed to hit its original schedule of producing cheese at the new plant before the end of 2024.
“Now we have the first cheese produced at the new facility,” Wilkinson told the Olean Star.
There are currently about 260 employees at the facility on nearly 200 acres along Route 16 that straddle the Franklinville-Farmersville town line, Wilkinson said.
By the time the Great Lakes Cheese plant in Cuba closes at the end of this month, about 200 more employees will move to the Franklinville plant. Most of the employees at the Cuba plant have made the move to Franklinville, which was the company’s aim.
When the plant is in full production by the end of 2025, Great Lakes Cheese will have met its target of about 500 employees, Wilkinson said.
Milk purchases are sporadic on start-up, but daily schedules are filled by regional milk cooperatives. At full production late next year, the plant will be receiving 4.5 million pounds of milk a day.
At 20,000 pounds of milk a year, it’s going to tackle a lot of cows and a lot of farms to meet the plant’s needs. The dairy cooperatives have worked with farmers to meet those needs, Wilkinson said.
Great lakes Cheese has also met its hiring goals, Wilkinson said. “It’s gone very well,” he said. The company was able to hire some workers who had received notice of plant closings — including Ontario Knife Co., in Franklinville and Stroehmann Bakery in Olean that closed last month. The company also conducted onsite job fairs.
“Those plant closings were unfortunate, but we were able to hire some of the workers,” Wilkinson said. “It has helped us with our hiring.
Starting jobs at the cheese plant are in the $50,000 range and employees share in the ownership of the company.
Wilkinson said Great Lakes Cheese Co. was thankful for the support it received from the entire community including Franklinville and Farmersville.
“We appreciate everything the County, the IDA and state have done for us. “You can’t undertake something of this size alone.”
Great Lakes Cheese had searched for more than two years for a site for the new plant that was top replace the antiquated Cuba plant, where it could double production.
When purchase of a site selected by the Allegany County Industrial Development Agency near Interstate 86 dragged on, Great Lakes Cheese pulled the plug and sought other sites in the region close enough so it would not lose its workforce.
Jason Schwab, a Freedom dairy farmer with about 200 acres of farmland off Route 16 near Franklinville, contacted Great Lakes Cheese to offer the site for consideration.
The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency stepped in to facilitate investigation of the site to determine its suitability. It was about 15 miles from the Cuba plant.
The Cattaraugus County Legislature contributed to the cost of the studies and paid $8 million for extension of water and sewer lines to the plant.
Groundbreaking for the new plant was held April 28, 2022. Just over 2 ½ years later, the plant is in operation — on time.
Due to inflation caused by supply chain delays linked to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that started in early 2020, plant costs increased from around $500 million to just over $700 million.
The plant is expected to produce more than $170 million worth of cheese a year.
In addition to its payroll, the Great Lakes Cheese Co. plant supports 1,186 other jobs from farm workers to truck drivers and suppliers and generates $459 million in Western New York economic activity.
