BURLEY, Idaho — A new milk processing plant is counting on innovation to meet the changing needs of today’s consumers, who are hungry for premium products.

Suntado LLC is focusing on shelf-stable dairy beverages that offer flavor, enhanced nutrition and other attributes such as lactose-free, organic, A2, sustainable and eco-friendly. It can also produce plant-based products.

The company won’t have its own brand but will co-pack products for brands and focus on what its customers want.

Suntado is on the leading edge of the trend in premium, shelf-stable products, said Seth Teply, president and CEO of Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada, which is producing Suntado’s packaging.

That trend is going to continue for many years, he said during a press conference and plant tour on Tuesday.

Value-added

Dairy is the biggest platform to bring nutrition to the market, but it needs diversification because the market will keep changing. Suntado can do that with value-added products to meet the needs of a changing customer profile, said Pedro Goncalves, vice president of marketing for Tetra Pak.

“Suntado’s motto is ‘taste the quality,’” said Tory Nichols, business development leader for Suntado.

“The key to success is to have a superior product,” he said.

Suntado created a vision for a processing business five or six years ago, and the idea for an aseptic facility was created about three years ago in an airport lounge, he said.

An aseptic facility is extremely complex; it took over a year just to design it. The plant has done numerous trials for customers.

Private label

Suntado is a fantastic resource for private labels, providing options for brands to create products, he said.

The company gets three to four calls a day from potential customers. The largest request is for lactose-free products, but there are significant requests for creamers, heavy whipping cream, half-and-half, flavored milk and organic beverages, he said.

The $150 million plant is on 23 acres. It has 191,000 square feet.

The plant is owned by dairy producers Jesus Hurtado and Dirk Reitsma. Hurtado owns conventional dairies in Gooding, Jerome and Twin Falls counties with about 30,000 cows. Reitsma owns Sunrise Organic Dairy east of Jerome with about 6,000 cows.

“They’ll be the primary suppliers to the plant,” he said.

Room to grow

The plant has the ability to process 2 million to 3 million pounds of milk a day. It currently has nearly 70 employees. That number will increase to about 100 with the plant operating 24/7, Nichols said.

A processing plant was the dream of John Reitsma (now deceased), a well-respected dairy producer, Hurtado’s partner and Dirk Reitsma’s father.

“Dirk and I will carry on his legacy,” Hurtado said.