What’s churning at Crystal Creamery in Modesto: New CEO/president and job openings
Modesto-based dairy processor Crystal Creamery has named a new chief executive officer and president, Tom Hughes.
Crystal employs about 750 people in making and selling fluid milk, ice cream, butter, sour cream and other goods. It had 10 job openings as of Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Hughes was promoted from chief operating officer to succeed Dennis Roberts, who retired after 17 years with the company.
“Our people remain our greatest strength,” Hughes said in a news release. “Across production, quality, sales, marketing, logistics, HR and finance, our teams demonstrate exceptional skill, resilience and commitment.”
The dairy industry is among Stanislaus County’s top employers, on the farms and at Crystal and other processors. The county also has wineries, poultry, nut companies, tomato canners and more.
That diversity helps the county weather blows such as the closure of the Del Monte Foods fruit cannery. That move, announced Jan. 15, cut about 600 year-round and 1,200 seasonal jobs at the Yosemite Boulevard site.
Crystal has its plant on Kansas Avenue and employs truckers and salespeople from the Los Angeles area to southern Oregon.
The online job listings range from entry level to supervisors. Crystal offers $49,920 to $54,080 a year for a Salinas-based driver. It is seeking a Modesto maintenance mechanic at $64,480 to $72,800.
A sales manager for the zone from Fresno to Bakersfield can make $73,000 to $83,000 a year. The Modesto plant will pay $80,000 to $90,000 to a fluid milk supervisor, filling cartons and jugs safely and efficiently.
The job listings do not include the many dairy farms that supply milk to Crystal and other processors. The cows need care around the clock.
Other things of note about Crystal:
- The business was founded as Foster Farms Dairy in 1941, two years after the same family launched its poultry business. The latter was sold in 2022 to Atlas Holdings, based in Connecticut.
- The dairy business adopted the Crystal brand in 2010, three years after acquiring a Sacramento operation by that name. The latter had begun in 1901 as Crystal Cream & Butter.
- The ice cream portion of the Modesto plant switched in 2020 to all natural ingredients. Guar gum, lecithin and other plant-based items enhance flavor, texture and color.
- The company also owns Humboldt Creamery, an organic producer near Eureka. It was purchased out of bankruptcy in 2009. Organic means the cows must graze on pasture grass at least some of the time and have no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides in other feed crops.
- Crystal is not among the region’s diverse cheesemakers, except for cottage cheese, which is more perishable than aged items.
- A small part of the Modesto plant makes eggnog for sale from November to early January. It contains egg yolks, sugar and spices, as explained during a 2009 tour for The Modesto Bee.
- Crystal was honored in 2022 for its efforts to reduce water and energy use and landfill-bound waste. It was accepted into the California Green Business Network.
“We always like to say we nourish the communities with all of our products,” Roberts said at the time. “But we also like to be good stewards of it, too.”
