Litehouse Inc. continues to shine

SANDPOINT - The old adage when the times get tough, the tough get going has never been more true than with the recent economic downturn.

Litehouse Foods has not only shown record growth, but has brought more than 28 new retail items to market and expanded its customer base.

To support this growth the Litehouse Inc. board announced the appointment of two new officers to the company and expanded responsibility for a current officer.

"Litehouse has an aggressive five-year growth plan," said Jim Frank, Litehouse president. "By focusing on the areas of sales, marketing, innovations and financial operations, we will not only meet our aggressive growth goals, but do so in a long-term sustainable manner."

Frank said that ability is especially important to support the company's employee ownership initiative.

"I am very excited to be part of the team at Litehouse, and look forward to more exciting results being delivered by this great team," he said.

Litehouse appointed Paul Kusche vice president of marketing and innovations, Shawn Peery as vice president of business development and Kelly Prior as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Kusche joined Litehouse in 1999 as director of operation information systems and has been the director of marketing since January 2004. He has a wealth of knowledge and innovation development expertise within Litehouse. Paul's previous experience includes holding high level management positions for such companies as Agrilink Foods, International Multifoods, Inc. and Curtice - Burns Foods, Inc. - Nalleys Fine Food Division.

Peery, who joined Litehouse in 2008, has 20-plus years of experience in the grocery/food industry. He has a strong background in both operations and merchandising with Albertsons/Supervalu.

Prior joined Litehouse in 2002 as controller and was promoted to CFO in 2005. He previously worked at Price Waterhouse Coopers, Eastern Washington University and Medinex Systems. In his new role, Prior will partner with operations leadership to develop, guide and provide structure to increase operational capacity to support the company's growth into the future.

Litehouse Inc. said Monday it acquired Green Garden Foods, a leading Seattle-based provider of dressings, sauces, and dips to the United States and Canadian retail grocery, food service and restaurant industries.

With the addition of Green Garden, Litehouse will be able to facilitate expanded growth and innovation through new production capabilities and product knowledge. Litehouse will make use of the expanded production capabilities through consolidation into its Sandpoint and Lowell, Mich., facilities.

Litehouse said it and Green Garden will work together to provide quality dressings, outstanding customer service, continued strong product development and custom formulas throughout the United States and Canada.

Litehouse Foods is an employee-owned company that has family-owned roots dating back to the Hawkins Family restaurant in 1958. Litehouse manufactures salad dressing, dips, sauces, artisan cheese, freeze-dried herbs, cold-pressed apple cider and lemonade and is available on both national and international levels.