A New Jersey-based company has acquired Pineland Farms Dairy Company in Bangor.
Pineland Farms, whose headquarters is near the Bangor International Airport, is the largest cheese producer in Maine and has been in Bangor for nearly a decade.
Tropical Cheese Industries is a private equity-backed company that makes Hispanic meats and cheeses. The company intends to make Bangor its “second core cheese manufacturing location” after its headquarters in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, according to an announcement from the city of Bangor.
The current Pineland Farms team will remain and there will be “no immediate changes to existing customer, supplier or operating relationships,” the announcement stated.
A Tropical Cheese spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
“Bangor brings together an experienced workforce, strong connections to Maine’s dairy community, and the infrastructure and room to expand production over time. We are excited to invest in the operation and the community,” Tropical Cheese CEO Victor Mehren said in the announcement.
Pineland Farms has been a staple in Maine’s cheese industry. Its website was down as of Wednesday afternoon.
The local company was founded in 2005 and previously made cheese in New Gloucester before shipping it to Mars Hill to be aged, cut, wrapped, sold and shipped.
Then in 2017, a Portland-based nonprofit, the Libra Foundation, bought the Bangor facility and consolidated cheese-making operations there as an investment in the local dairy market, which had taken a hit when Penobscot County lost a major dairy company in 2013, forcing some local farmers to send their products down to Portland plants like Hood and Oakhurst.
The company employed about 40 people as of 2023.
It sources milk from farmers within a 50-mile radius of Bangor, cutting costs for farmers who otherwise would have to pay to send their products to larger cities like Portland or Boston.
“Having this well-known brand be in a position to source Maine dairy and to help grow our existing small agricultural businesses is truly a win-win,” Mike Duguay, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, said in the announcement.