A major change the company has made as part of the expansion is going from traditional open vats to closed cheese vats, Baker says. The closed vats allow for a less labor-intensive make procedure and reduce the amount of handling of the cheese. It also allows larger batches of cheese to be made, he says.
In addition, the company has put in a state-of-the-art starter room and pasteurizer room, as well as added more packaging lines, bringing the total line count to six, Baker notes.
The expanded building and new equipment gives the company the ability to handle more milk and make more cheese, as well as the space to produce even more cheese when warranted. Previously, Baker Cheese was handling about 400,000 pounds of milk a day, Baker says, but now the plant is set up to handle 500,000-600,000 pounds a day.
"There's not an immediate timetable for another expansion," says Baker, who expresses his happiness at getting through the typical hassles and challenges of a major new equipment start-up. "It will depend on the growth and needs of our current and new customers."
Baker Cheese is ready to begin filling the needs of new customers, though. Because of the demand for string cheese, it's been awhile since the company has supplied new customers.
"We haven't been able to take on any new customers for a year and a half," Baker says. "All of our available capacity was used within our own customer base. We had to turn down business. Now that is changing."
• Growing and changing with the times
The demand for string cheese coupled with the commitment from his family made the decision to expand a relatively easy one, Baker says. The cheese plant has been in the family since Baker's grandfather, Frank, purchased the plant in 1916, and the Bakers are anxious to continue to keep the business thriving for the family.
Baker and his two brothers, Bob and Jack, own the company, and Baker's sons, Mark and Brian, also are involved in the business.
Over the years, the plant has grown and changed according to the times and market conditions. The plant was originally a Cheddar plant when Frank Baker purchased it, but in the mid-1950s, the family decided to switch part of the production over to Mozzarella and Provolone and by the late 1950s, had dropped Cheddar. This switch, based on market demand, made Baker Cheese what Baker believes to be one of the first Italian cheese companies in Wisconsin operated by a non-Italian family.
 And though they may not have had the Italian heritage, the Bakers did have a cheesemaking heritage, and they found their Mozzarella in demand by one company with whom they had an exclusive arrangement to sell all of their cheese.
That arrangement, Baker says, worked well for many years, but as the market changed and continued to get more competitive, the Bakers decided to change their strategy.
"In the early '70s, we went from selling to one company to selling to five or six companies," Baker says. "That was a big step."
It was at about that time, too, that Baker Cheese made its first foray into the string business.
"In the mid-1970s, Dad was visiting the West Coast and bought some string cheese. He brought it home and said, 'Maybe this is something we should look at,'" Baker recalls, although no one was sure it would be successful.
String cheese, it appears, originally made a bit of a jump over the Midwest as it became popular on the East and West Coasts in the 1960s and early 1970s, Baker says.
"It just didn't catch on at first in the Midwest," he says, adding that he believes the company also may have been the first manufacturer and marketer of string cheese in Wisconsin.
Baker Cheese started making the string cheese by hand. By the late 1970s, though, it had acquired some automation.
String cheese also opened up a larger customer base for Baker Cheese, and in the early 1980s the company started to do some private label production. This led to a major expansion project in 1985, which in turn facilitated additional demand for string, Baker says.
• Not a passing fad
String cheese definitely has not been a passing fad — demand has continued to grow to this day, with average national retail sales up 17.3 percent for the year ending Oct. 30, according to Dairy Management Inc.
In the 1970s, Baker Cheese started out primarily marketing the cheese for kids, as well as for bars and for snacking. And as time went on, it became more and more popular.
"I think it's similar to the pizza craze," Baker says. "People started eating it and stayed with it."
Then those people gave it to their children and the category continued to grow in popularity. Now, with that kid-friendly trend firmly entrenched, late summer has become the time for a major push each year for Baker Cheese. At that time of year, not only is there more of a demand for string cheese for lunch boxes, Baker Cheese also has made many inroads with school districts, Baker says.
In fact, these days the growth in demand for the company's cheese doesn't even really come from special promotions, Baker adds.
"Early on, in the early '80s, we did a lot of demo-ing to develop the brand, which helped to develop the market in the Midwest," he says.
That and large national companies adding string cheese SKUs finally gave string products the push they needed to become a regular dairy case item.
 "With the big players putting in regular lines of string, it automatically got distribution to fringe markets and increased sales of string cheese as a category," Baker says.
With the demand for string cheese also has come greater variety, as well.
"When we started back in the mid-1970s, we only marketed 16-ounce Cryovac packages," Baker says. "Currently we make over 50 package sizes."
In addition to its regular varieties, Baker Cheese offers kosher string cheese, as well as retail Mozzarella cuts. Smoked string cheese also is a relatively small but important part of the company's product mix.
Other products and package sizes also are items the company is evaluating.
"In the past, we've moved to whatever the market wants. We hope the expansion will allow us the space and capacity to further that approach," Baker says.
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