Rouses Supermarkets opens door for Baton Rouge-based Kleinpeter's first major out-of-state expansion.
Kleinpeter milk is now available in Rouses supermarkets in Diamondhead, Gulfport, Long Beach, and Ocean Springs, Miss. This marks Baton Rouge-based Kleinpeter Farms Dairy's first major expansion outside of Louisiana.
Kleinpeter milk began arriving on the shelves of the Mississippi coast Rouses within the last two weeks. "This is a stepping stone that will enable us to expand even further into Mississippi, thanks to the Rouses team," Kleinpeter Farms Dairy President Jeff Kleinpeter said in making the announcement.
Kleinpeter said the Mississippi expansion was helped by the close teamwork between Kleinpeter Dairy and Rouses to help get Smith Creamery back in business following the destruction of Smith's Washington Parish facility in June. Kleinpeter Dairy is packaging and distributing Smith Creamery's milk and using its distribution network to help Smith's get into more supermarkets, including into more Rouses.
"As we worked together to help out the Smiths, our teams got to know each other even better, so the move into Mississippi is a natural result of that cooperation," Kleinpeter noted.
In addition, students at the historic St. Stanislaus College Preparatory School in Bay St. Louis, Miss., are now being served Kleinpeter milk.
"My grandfather graduated from St. Stanislaus in 1913, came home, and started Kleinpeter Farms Dairy with his daddy. My dad also went there, so it's a kind of homecoming for us to be able to serve our friends on the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said Kleinpeter.
St. Stanislaus is a Catholic day and residency school for boys run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Jeff Kleinpeter and two of his brothers, Kenny and Steve, also attended the school.