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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. 鈥� When you think of pizza, there is one key ingredient that makes it on the meal almost every time: cheese.

Midwest Dairy has been partnering with pizza chains around the region, including Pizza Ranch, Godfather鈥檚 Pizza and Marco鈥檚 Pizza. These pizza partnerships increased milk sales by 3,465,440 pounds of milk in 2024.

鈥淧izza is a great carrier of cheese, right? Cheese is a wonderful use of milk. Ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese. So, it鈥檚 a great opportunity for our dairy farmers to sell more milk on the market鈥� said Martha Kemper, Vice President of Dairy Experience-Business Development at Midwest Dairy. 鈥淎s we can provide a delicious experience to consumers with that product, it鈥檚 what we would consider a win-win.鈥�

When partnering with the companies, Midwest Dairy finds out what their needs are and what their key objectives to their new business model or products are.

Midwest Dairy

鈥淥nce we can find alignment, that鈥檚 where we find our sweet spot,鈥� Kemper said. 鈥淩eally, the engagement has been around sales and promotion of dairy. It鈥檚 been around supporting them in their research and development. It鈥檚 been around developing some of these limited time offers and also around the sales and promotion, so helping them with some creative assets that appeal to consumers.鈥�

Midwest Dairy started this partnership program with Pizza Ranch first in 2020.

鈥淲e take a consultative selling approach with our partners. You know, are there any opportunities for us to align? Is there a way that we can help them with maybe some key objectives that they have that we can help solve,鈥� Kemper said.

Pizza Ranch, being primarily a buffet restaurant, needed help creating a better pickup option for their pizza during the pandemic, something that Midwest Dairy was able to help them establish.

鈥淲e were able to help them with that pivot and successfully launch a pickup process for their pizzas, and we鈥檝e had a wonderful partnership since,鈥� Kemper said.

Pizza provides a lot of ways to create innovative products to get dairy to consumers.

鈥淚n fact, think about our partnership with Marco鈥檚 Pizza. We actually helped amplify their promotion of new fiery flavor menu items. The basis of that fiery flavor was a Carolina Reaper cheese,鈥� Kemper said. 鈥淚f it sounds hot, it is. And that鈥檚 what was on trend, what consumers were looking for and a great differentiator for Marco鈥檚 Pizza.鈥�

With this project, Midwest Dairy helped Marco鈥檚 Pizza with their in-store point of sale materials to promote the new product to consumers.

鈥淚t was a very successful what we consider an LTO, limited time offer, for them,鈥� Kemper said.

Through this partnership, both the dairy industry and the pizza companies have been pleased with the results.

鈥淥ne is our dairy farmer funders. I think they鈥檝e been very pleased with the results and that we can demonstrate that there is incremental growth in this very already developed category,鈥� Kemper said. 鈥淎nd I think our partners have been thrilled with our partnerships and that we bring some of that unique ideation as well as some additional promotional dollars that maybe they hadn鈥檛 budgeted for. So, we鈥檙e able to amplify the promotion for better results in the long run.鈥�

As money is a growing concern for consumers, dairy plays a key role in getting them good food at affordable prices, Kemper said.

鈥淚 think dairy right now is in the right place at the right time,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s people are scrutinizing their wallet and their choices and still trying to provide the opportunity to eat out as well as eat in, I think there鈥檚 a great opportunity to engage with consumers on again, not only the value of cheese and dairy, but, you know, also the essential nutrition that dairy offers.鈥�

Kemper said there is unlimited ways this partnership could continue to grow.

鈥淚 think you鈥檙e going to continue to see innovation in this space and I think as inflationary pressures continue to take hold, consumers are looking for a good value for their dollar, yet they don鈥檛 want to give up on the taste,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, there鈥檚 been a lot of really great meal deals out there in this pizza space, and I really see that we鈥檒l continue to have some engagements especially around innovation in this space with our pizza partners.鈥�