Bel Brands USA selects South Dakota for $100 million cheese plant

A Chicago-based cheese maker announced plans Feb. 1 to build a $100 million cheese plant in Brookings, S.D.

Bel Brands USA selected the South Dakota city over locations in Iowa, Idaho and Michigan. Construction on the 170,000-square-foot facility will begin this summer on a 48-acre industrial site provided by the city according to the Associated Press. The plant will initially employ 200 people but will create a total of 400 jobs once the plant is fully operational in 2014.

The plant will require milk from an estimated 13,000 cows per day to produce the company’s Mini Babybel cheese.  

South Dakota State University’s new $9.5 million dairy processing and research facility helped attract Bel Brands to Brookings. A partnership between the two is will be mutually beneficial. The plant will provide research, internship and career opportunities for South Dakota State University students. Barry Dunn, dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences called the plant a “game changer” according to the Argus Leader.

Brookings is investing almost $12 million into the project, but the total economic impact of the plant is estimated at $500 million annually when fully operational.

Bel Brands USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Paris-based Fromageries Bel, also produces The Laughing Cow cheese wedges, Boursin, Merkts, Kaukauna and other natural and gourmet cheese spreads.