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CapitalPress.com
June 2, 2017
Butter’s comeback boosts creamery
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
General manager Tom Hughes talks with butter maker Tyler Taplin at the churn on Larsen’s Cream-
ery’s 7,000-square-foot production floor. The business churns out more than 25 million pounds of
butter a year.
Larsen’s Creamery does
one thing, and does it well.
“All we make is but-
ter,” General manager Tom
Hughes said. “There are not a
lot of creameries around and
that basically identifies us as
a survivor. To my knowledge
there’s just one other size but-
ter operation that functions as
we do that only produces but-
ter, and that’s back on the East
Coast.”
This has Hughes con-
cerned.
“With the closures, ac-
quisitions and mergers of
so many other creameries
it’s kind of left us out here,”
Hughes said. “If we’re going
to have a lot of milk out here,
where’s that milk going to
go?”
In the meantime, butter is
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more wholesome alternative
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Americans are forecast to eat
8 percent more butter this
year compared to last year,
the most since 1967, USDA
data show.
That’s been helped by large
enterprises switching to but-
ter. That includes McDonald’s
in its signature Egg McMuf-
fin, calling for an estimated
600 million pounds of milk
per year. Jack in the Box and
Burger King have also made
the change.
Founded in 1927, Larsen’s
Creamery is in Clackamas,
Ore., and owned by Andrew
Gianopoulos. The plant pro-
duces more than 25 million
pounds of butter a year and
has a 9½-acre footprint that
includes a 7,000-square-foot
production space and 32,000
square feet of cooler and freez-
er space.
“The demand for butter
keeps increasing. You’re see-
ing the institutional users jump
into it. People are coming back
to natural fats and they’re rec-
ognizing that butter is not the
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Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Tyler Taplin keeps the butter
churning at Larsen’s Creamery
in Clackamas, Ore. Larsen’s
is one of the few creameries
left and produces butter from
start to finish and from small
foil-wrapped pats to 55-pound
blocks of solid butter for indus-
trial use.
try,” Hughes said. “Natural,
delicious fat is coming back
and we’re riding the wave of
that.”
Despite the renewed de-
mand for butter, margins are
small and Larsen’s must stay
on its toes to remain profitable.
Among the challenges is
finding skilled employees.
“It’s tough to find qualified
people and difficult to pay the
wages that are being demand-
ed,” Hughes said. “It’s not an
easy job and you’ll find these
young millennials come out
and want to start at the top and
get paid even more than being
started at the top.”
He said it takes two to five
years to train a good-quality
butter maker “and it’s hard to
find people that will be ded-
icated and develop a passion
for this business when they
can go on down the street to
Portland for a more laid back
environment.”