Straus Family Creamery emerges from former Sonoma County printing building
Straus Family Creamery founder, CEO and organic milk farming pioneer Albert Straus has turned a former printing building at 655 Park Court in Rohnert Park into an advanced 50,000-square-foot milk processing facility.
This plant is producing 72 retail and food service dairy products made from 100% certified organic milk, including butter, ice cream, yogurt, half & half and whipping cream.
Work was completed by Devcon Construction on Feb. 1 with production commencing shortly thereafter. Qualtech, specializing in designing dairy manufacturing plants, built the new Straus eco-conscious and efficient creamery.
“The pandemic changed amounts we were producing, but now retail sales are back up, but restaurant food service demand is still down, but coming back slowly. We’re rapidly working to increase quality and output as well as to become more sustainable as a manufacturer,” said Straus.
Straus Family Creamery products are made using certified organic milk from 12 small farms – 6 in Marin County and 6 in Sonoma County. The company’s goal is to expand its number of milk suppliers to sustain the next generation of family dairy farmers in the North Bay while also helping to revitalize rural communities, Straus said.
After 27 years in the Marin County community of Marshall, a decision was made to relocate the processing plant to a larger building at a site that would decrease miles driven by 85% of the company’s 90 employees by 70%, and reduces employee vehicle emissions by over 300 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.
The new location is a larger, up-to-date facility with low energy LED lighting and smart processing controls throughout the plant, enabling Straus to increase capacity and output for its current products to accommodate growth, add new organic categories while allowing for more sustainable practices – such as zero waste production.
For example, the original Marshall creamery could produce up to 20,000 gallons of fluid milk per day. The new plant is expected to double that quantity in the future.
The facility uses 97% carbon-free electricity purchased from Sonoma Clean Power and has 10 electric vehicle charging stations for employee use at no cost. A 5,000 square foot drought-resistant landscape was planted with 200 trees, flowering plants, shrubs, hedges and grasses that help conserve water, create pollinator habitats and foster ecological resilience.
Straus is moving quickly to replace fossil fuel-based plastic packaging as seen in the firm’s reintroduction of reusable bottles (made from 30% recycled glass) for several of the company’s products. Consumers pay a $2 deposit refundable when bottles are returned to stores.
