Draft:Litehouse

Litehouse, Inc.

Litehouse is an American food company and manufacturer that produces salad dressings, sauces, condiments, fruit and vegetable dips, freeze-dried herbs, and specialty brand items. Litehouse Inc. first began in Hope, Idaho, over 60 years ago with The Litehouse restaurant. Now headquartered in Sandpoint, Idaho, the brand has since grown to lead refrigerated dressing brands as America’s #1 refrigerated ranch dressing brand, most known for its blue cheese salad dressing.    

History

It all started in 1882 when John George Hawkins settled in Sandpoint, ID and opened a restaurant. His grandson Ed Hawkins would become a chef, and following WWII, in 1949, while working in Spokane, WA, his boss complained about the poor quality of blue cheese dressing used on the salads. In response, Ed prayed for a solution and his prayer was answered. The answer to his prayer was a blend of mayonnaise, crumbled blue cheese, spices, and buttermilk. To his knowledge, the original recipe was the first of its kind, a creamy blue cheese dressing.      

With this new recipe in 1958, Ed and his wife, Lorena, purchased Herschell's Lighthouse restaurant in Hope, Idaho on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, a tourist town known for its booming summer trade and 200-person population. Restaurant consumers enjoyed the original salad dressing so much that they would bring empty jars to fill with dressing and take home.    

A few years later, in 1963, Ed and Lorena’s son Doug convinced his parents to make a business out of the famous salad dressing. The Hawkins collected enough money to purchase 12 cases of jars. Aunt Ethel Ashely designed the logo and label design for the jars, and the family hand-mixed the dressing in soup kettles. Finally, the first jars of Litehouse Salad dressing were sold in the produce department of Roger’s Thrift Store in Sandpoint, ID. A freshly made 16oz jar of homemade Litehouse Bleu Cheese cost $0.79. The original spelling of the famous dressing was Bleu Cheese, not blue cheese for years, but changed in 2014 for search engine optimization reasons.  

In the growing stages of Litehouse Inc., Ed and his son Doug, drove around the tri-state area in their Datsun pickup truck stopping from store to store making sales and deliveries. In 1974, Ed Sr. went into the VA hospital, and his sons Doug and Edward Hawkins, Jr. decided to shift the focus of the business from the restaurant to the salad dressing business. By 1976, the brothers had outgrown the restaurant kitchen and the Datsun pickup truck. The brothers acquired a larger space and hired more employees, moving the business to Sandpoint, ID where it currently operates.  

In 1984, Edward Sr. passed away, along with the family’s desire to continue running the family restaurant business. For four years, the 12 Litehouse retail products on the market faced no growth, so the Hawkins brothers took initiative. Doug and Edward Jr. developed a strategy to expand on what Litehouse did best: make great products and employ dedicated employees to make them. After building a strong portfolio of retail products and another season of rapid growth, in 1997 Litehouse merged with Chadlee Farms Inc., a company based in Lowell, Michigan, known for its food service and horseradish products. During this time, Litehouse also expanded its offerings to innovative products such as freeze-dried herbs, meat marinades, salad bar dressing packs, vegetable tray dip, caramel dips, and other complementary food products.    

In 2001, Litehouse leased the Pend Oreille Cheese Company and started making handcrafted blue cheese as the ingredient in its famous Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing. Soon after, Litehouse started selling Simply Artisan Blue Cheese Crumbles and wheels in the produce and deli departments.    

In 2006, the founders of Litehouse, transferred 30% of the company ownership to its employees. By 2014, Litehouse became 100% employee owned.    

In 2019, Litehouse acquired two brands: a global sauces/condiments brand, Sky Valley, and an organic dressings/condiments brand, Organicville. The company continued to expand its portfolio of brands as, in 2020, Litehouse purchased a veggie-based pasta brand, Veggiecraft, further diversifying its brand portfolio. As of 2024, Litehouse continues to expand, creating new Litehouse product lines Loaded and Kid's and establishing more licensed partnerships such as Flavortown, California Pizza Kitchen, and Health Nut.

Litehouse Products

Litehouse product categories include dressings, dips, cheeses, and herbs. Litehouse products do not contain artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. Unlike many shelf stable dressings, Litehouse dressings are refrigerated and range from various ranch varieties and blue cheeses to vinaigrettes and yogurt-based dressings. Dips come in savory, sweet varieties such as vegetable, salsas caramel, and chocolate dips. Simply Artisan is a Litehouse cheese line that includes the homemade blue cheese chunks made for their iconic Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing, sold alongside feta and gorgonzola cheeses. Litehouse herbs are freeze-dried, unlike conventional herbs that are air-dried by heat. This allows for dried-herb ease with fresh-tasting, bold flavor preserved by the freeze-drying process. Consumers can  substitute Litehouse freeze-dried herbs in place of fresh or air-dried herbs in any recipe.  

Sky Valley

Sky Valley is a part of the Litehouse family of brands. Founded in 2010 and acquired by Litehouse in 2019, Sky Valley offers globally-inspired sauces and condiments that are a gateway to bold flavor. All Sky Valley products use quality ingredients and are non-GMO, gluten-free, and vegan. Best known for its popular Red Sriracha, Sky Valley offers a range of Asian and Latin products including Green Sriracha, Sambal Oelek, Taco Sauce, Salsa Verde, Thai Peanut Sauce, and more.    

Organicville

Organicville is a part of the Litehouse family of brands. The brand, created in 2004, was inspired by a dream to create quality foods available to everyone. The founder of both Organicville and Sky Valley grew up eating organic dressings created from her grandmother's recipes. Later, as a mom herself, the founder realized that the only dressing options in-store were non-organic. She then used her grandmother’s recipes to create delicious organic dressings and sauces. Today, Organicville is a 20-year-old Legacy Natural Products brand that not only fills that gap with organic dressings and sauces on the store shelf, but is also vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. The brand provides a variety of salad dressings, condiments, pasta & pizza sauces, marinades & BBQs. Litehouse acquired Organicville along with Sky Valley in 2019.  

Veggiecraft

Veggiecraft is a part of the Litehouse family of brands. Veggiecraft offers 3-ingredient pastas in an array of shapes and flavors. Made from a blend of vegetable flours, Veggiecraft pastas provide  veggies in every bite—1/3 of your daily recommended veggies per serving. Veggiecraft products are also gluten-free and good sources of protein and fiber. In 2024, Veggiecraft introduced an improved recipe to more closely match the taste and texture of traditional pasta.

Licensed Partnerships 

Litehouse Inc. has established relationships with the following brands through licensed partnerships: California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), Health Nut, and Flavortown.  

Litehouse and California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) first joined forces to introduce restaurant-quality dressings to retail stores in 2022. Using CPK's registered trademark, a collection of salad dressings launched, inspired by their innovative California-inspired menu and mirroring the popular salads served in CPK restaurants. The partnership with Litehouse introduced a range of new dressing flavors but also leaned heavily on CPK's reputation for creativity, fresh ingredients, and unexpected combinations. After Litehouse x CPK's successful launch in 2022, Litehouse’s licensed partnership with Health Nut began in 2023 following the restaurants' popular family recipes and fresh-tasting salad dressings. Public recognition for the brand skyrocketed in 2015 when Health Nut’s salad bowls regularly appeared on reality television. The partnership with Litehouse expanded Health Nut Dressings’ footprint nationwide and made it easier for consumers to enjoy the variety of dressing flavors, now sold in retail stores. Flavortown is Litehouse’s licensed partnership with Guy Fieri’s newly launched BBQ sauce and condiments line. Flavortown Sauces brings nine bottled sauces to retail shelves around the country.

Away From Home & Value Added

Away From Home & Value Added (AFH/VA) represents 48% of the Litehouse Inc. business. This branch of the business primarily supplies produce companies, restaurant chains, foodservice and industrial manufactures. Value Added Litehouse products can be found in salad kits, vegetable and fruit trays, snack packs, grab and go items, or used in recipes behind the deli at retailers. The Away From Home team specializes in creating custom formulas for partners including national chain accounts, C-stores, and industrial manufactures. They also package Litehouse formulas in bulk and portion control products. Production and packaging capabilities contribute to the business’s ability to produce and provide its products to these customers.