The Independent Procurement Alliance Program recognizes Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin as the 2021 Training Partner of the Year.
The award recognizes the dairy checkoff’s efforts to educate food industry professionals across the country about the Wisconsin dairy story, from farm to menu.
IPAP is the largest refrigerated redistribution program in the U.S. supplying independent food service distributors across the nation and even internationally with dairy products from over 60 Wisconsin dairy companies. Their weekly cheese volume is approximately 4 million pounds a week or over 200 million pounds annually, which is about 1/12 of all the cheese produced in the state.
“This award is a true reflection of the hard work the team has dedicated to developing marketing and research materials to educate food industry teams on the quality and varieties of Wisconsin Cheese, all while elevating perceptions and growing sales of Wisconsin Cheese across the country,” says DFW CEO Chad Vincent.
DFW supported the creation of training videos and hosted buyer missions to bring IPAP’s customers to Wisconsin to receive marketing training, participate in visits to processors and farms and immerse themselves in Wisconsin’s dairy culture.
In addition to increasing national sales volume by connecting Wisconsin dairy companies to distributors, these efforts have been instrumental in elevating the value of Wisconsin Cheese and dairy products to command a premium on menus by demonstrating new and exciting ways to incorporate them into recipes.
