Best of Southern Utah winner Litehouse Foods seeks to expand local workforce with weekly job fairs

CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — From a family-owned restaurant to a 100% employee-owned company, Idaho-based salad dressing giant Litehouse Foods has continued a trajectory of steady growth. With this growth, Litehouse is seeing to increase their local workforce in Southern Utah.

Employees from Litehouse Foods factory in Hurricane, Utah, circa 2019 | Photo courtesy of Litehouse Foods, St. George News

According to a media release from Litehouse, the company has increased starting wages and is seeking motivated and reliable workers to join the Litehouse family. Interested applicants are invited to attend Litehouse’s ongoing job fairs at the Hurricane plant, located at 239 N. Old Hwy. 91. Job fairs are held every Wednesday and Thursday from 1-4 p.m. For more information, visit the Litehouse website.  

Litehouse has been a top employer in Hurricane since 2011, when they opened the doors to their third manufacturing facility. This year, they were awarded silver honors as the best place to work in Southern Utah. They continue to be a leading workplace, offering comprehensive benefits and competitive wages to all their employee owners.

Litehouse had its beginnings in 1949 when Ed Hawkins Sr. was a chef in Spokane, Washington. Hawkins prayed about a solution to the poor quality of the salad bar dressings they served. The answer to his prayer was a blend of mayonnaise, spices, crumbled blue cheese and buttermilk. To his knowledge, his original recipe was the first creamy blue cheese dressing.

Hawkins started serving the recipe in his restaurant. Customers loved his dressing so much they took home jars of it. Seeing how much customers loved the dressing, his sons, Doug and Ed Jr., had an idea to start selling the product to local retailers.

With local success, the Hawkins family started gaining national distribution. They grew the company with new product offerings and expanded the production footprint by adding the Lowell, Michigan, facility in addition to their location in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Litehouse Foods products, location and date not specified | Photo courtesy of Litehouse Foods, St. George News

Over the coming years, Litehouse continued to expand its offerings of innovative products to include freeze-dried herbs, meat marinades, dressing packs for salad bars, dips for vegetable trays, caramel dip and other complementary food products.

In 2001, Litehouse began making their own handcrafted blue cheese as the main ingredient for the famous blue cheese dressing. Soon afterward, Litehouse blue cheese crumbles and wheels began selling in produce and deli departments across the country. 

As Litehouse continued to grow, they searched for other locations to manufacture their popular products. Litehouse opened the doors of their manufacturing facility in Hurricane in 2011.

In 2006, they transferred 30% of the company’s ownership to its employees and 100% by 2014. Together, Litehouse employees share the hard work and rewards of building their company. The company empowers all members of its organization to spark the innovations and great new ideas that will propel them into the future.

Today, Litehouse’s award-winning products are available in North America through general retail, e-commerce, food service, deli, club stores and value-added goods such as meal and salad kits. The company operates under the brands Litehouse, Brite Harbor, Sky Valley, Organicville, Green Garden and Veggiecraft. 

Litehouse exists to serve – to improve life one community, one table and one bite at a time. They strive to deliver a memorable eating experience, positively impact the communities around them and provide employee owners with opportunities to succeed. They are proud to contribute to the success of their communities and impact the lives of those who live there.

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