‘We are proud to work at Litehouse’: Employee-owned salad dressing giant seeks to expand local workforce

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. As such, Litehouse is seeking to expand their local workforce in Southern Utah.

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

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. 

Job seekers will likely participate in an interview and should be prepared to discuss their career aspirations, work availability and why they believe working for an employee-owned company is right for them. 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. And while they offer comprehensive benefits and competitive wages to all employee owners, vice president of human resources Melanie Rydalch believes it’s the unique culture of living their vision, mission and core values every day that truly sets Litehouse apart. 

“We are proud to work at Litehouse, so being recognized as one of the best places to work feels great,” she said. “Our mission and core values speak to the type of workplace we strive to create and to our belief that our actions have the potential to meaningfully impact our fellow employee owners, our communities and our company.” 

The Litehouse story

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

Litehouse was created in 1949 by Ed Hawkins Sr., a chef in Spokane, Washington, who prayed about a solution to the poor quality of the salad bar dressings his restaurant 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, and customers loved his dressing so much they took home jars of it. Seeing how popular it was becoming, his sons, Doug and Ed Jr., had an idea to start selling the product to area 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 a Lowell, Michigan, facility in addition to their headquarters in Sandpoint, Idaho.

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

Over the coming years, Litehouse continued to expand their 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.

Their award-winning products are available across 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 Foods products, location and date not specified | Photo courtesy of Litehouse Foods, St. George News

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

“We depend upon each and every one of our employee owners to help us achieve our mission,” Rydalch said. 

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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