news and events

Dakota, Illinois – (December 8, 2021) - Berner Food and Beverage LLC, a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, recently introduced several new members of the company’s leadership team.

Dakota, IL – (August 11, 2021) - Berner Food & Beverage LLC (Berner), a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, announced Kelly Diamond has been named Vice President of Operations.

Berner Food & Beverage LLC (Berner), a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, announced the addition of Jesse Higgins as Director of Warehouse Operations.

Berner Food & Beverage, Inc. (“Berner” or the “Company”), a leading supplier of shelf-stable, dairy-based food and beverage products, today announced that it has launched a new, state-of-the-art retort beverage line focused on the production of ready-to-drink (“RTD”) coffee and latte beverages.

Berner Food & Beverage LLC is helping retailers take advantage of the robust ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee market with a blueprint for success to capture private label beverage sales. As a one-stop beverage provider for retailers, Berner’s beverage program allows retailers to offer their own range of great-tasting RTD coffee beverages that consumers will love.

The November/December 2014 issue of Food Manufacturing featured a profile of Berner Food & Beverage, an Illinois manufacturer of private label and store brand ready-to-drink coffee and functional beverages, dips, sauces and aerosol cheese products. In the four years since FM’s visit, Berner has experienced both considerable change and considerable growth. The company, which had been owned and operated by the Kneubuehl family since its founding in 1943, was sold to Peak Rock Capital in November 2015. A new CEO, Kurt Seagrist, was appointed in June 2016. And in September 2017, Berner announced the completion of a significant expansion at its manufacturing facility in Dakota, Illinois — one that tripled the size of the operation. Most recently, the company, in September 2018, broke ground on a new 675,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center located in New Milford, Illinois.

Berner Food & Beverage LLC is showcasing the latest ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee beverage and clean label dip trends at PLMA’s 2018 Private Label Tradeshow. PLMA’s annual tradeshow event brings retailers and wholesalers together to source their private label programs and is being held November 11-13, 2018 at the Rosemont Convention Center near Chicago, Illinois.

Berner is showcasing the latest ready-to-drink coffee beverage and clean label dip trends at the National Association of Convenience Stores’ NACS Expo. Tyler Kneubuehl, Director of Marketing and Analytics, Berner said, “Trendspotting is made easy at NACS this year as our booth #3143 showcases the latest seasonal latte flavors and tea lattes that today’s consumers are seeking from convenience retailers. Attendees can also sample our great tasting clean label dips."

Berner Food and Beverage broke ground Thursday, September 13th on a massive warehouse and distribution center in New Milford. The company is building a $25 million, 675,000-square-foot facility in the Rock 39 Industrial Park to replace the roughly 200,000-square-foot building it leases on the city’s west side.

Berner Food and Beverage LLC, a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, recently announced Tim Lethcoe has joined the company as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Yvette Fossum has joined as Vice President of Sales.

Berner Food and Beverage LLC, a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, announced the appointment of Kirby J. Harris as the company’s new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Berner Food & Beverage, a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, will showcase some of the latest private label products, including trending ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee flavors, at PLMA’s 2017 Private Label Tradeshow. PLMA’s annual tradeshow, where retailers and wholesalers source for their private label programs, will be held November 12-14, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.

Berner Food & Beverage LLC (Berner), a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, hosted a ribbon cutting event, marking the official opening of their newly expanded manufacturing facility. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, located in Dakota, Illinois, triples Berner’s manufacturing space, offers customers additional beverage production capabilities, and allows for continued growth in the future.

FREEPORT — More than 100 people attended a Stephenson County food manufacturing industry job fair today at the Freeport Public Library. An estimated 300 jobs were available, including entry-level and professional positions. Six local companies — Berner Food & Beverage, CoreFx, Devansoy Inc., Nuestro Queso, Pearl Valley Farms and Snak King — participated, accepting applications and resumes while some conducted onsite interviews.

Berner Food & Beverage, a leading private label and contract manufacturing supplier of quality food and beverage products, has expanded their dip program. Recent expansion of their manufacturing facility has allowed the company to optimize their manufacturing lines and assist retailers in expanding the category for high quality shelf stable dips with additional variety and flavors.

The Illinois dairy processor tripled its facility to 290,000 square feet. It uses the retort process to manufacture beverages and cheeses.

Dakota-based Berner Food and Beverage is adding a Rockford location to its free employee transportation system. The hope is that it can help fill some of the 75 to 100 open jobs Berner has at any given time, said Jody Gowin, Berner’s human resources director. “As we grow, our job base comes from a wider radius,” she said. “We also need to get more employees from the Rockford area simply because we’re always hiring.”

Berner Food and Beverage has expanded its ready-to-drink beverage manufacturing capabilities with an investment of over $100m, adding 200,000 additional square feet to its production warehouse in Dakota, Illinois.

The current plant expansion project will allow additional beverage manufacturing capabilities and further expand the footprint of their retorted beverage lines in the new 290,000 square foot facility. Kurt Seagrist, Chief Executive Officer, Berner Food and Beverage LLC said, “I am happy to share that as our plant expansion nears completion, we are letting our customers know that we will have an increased footprint in retort can and glass beverage capabilities. Our new state-of-the-art facility is SQF Level III certified and offers processing capabilities to deliver a larger variety of RTD beverages.

The state-of-the-art processing center is scheduled to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2017. Kurt Seagrist, Chief Executive Officer, Berner Food and Beverage LLC said, “This is a very exciting time for Berner Foods. This plant expansion is going to triple our footprint and allow us to better serve our customer partners and all of their private label and contract manufacturing needs. The improvements we have been making are driven by the new strategic direction underway since our acquisition by Peak Rock Capital. Berner has always been a family-owned company supplying the industry with quality products."