Dean Foods

Dean Foods is an American food and beverage company that specializes in dairy products. The company maintains plants and distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom. Dean Foods has 100 facilities located in 35 American states as well as five manufacturing plants in the countries of Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

History

Dean Foods was founded by Samuel L. Dean, Sr., who owned an evaporated milk processing facility in Franklin Park, Illinois, in the 1920s. After purchasing other Illinois dairy plants Dean developed the enterprise "from a small regional dairy into a diversified food company".

In December 2001, the legacy brand of Dean Foods was acquired by the Dallas-based Suiza Foods Corporation, who later adopted the Dean Foods name. In 2005, Dean Specialty Foods was spun off from Dean Foods as Bay Valley Foods, LLC, a division of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. In June 2005 TreeHouse Foods started trading on the New York Stock Exchange with a ticker of THS.