Nuestro Queso, which means “Our Cheese” in Spanish, is a young and award-winning Illinois-based company founded in 2009. We manufacture the highest quality and freshest Hispanic cheeses, creams, and drinkable yogurts. Our dairy products are widely recognized as America’s best in quality, freshness, and great taste. In fact, Nuestro Queso has won 15 medals in cheese industry competitions since 2011.
Well known in the Chicago area, Nuestro Queso is one of the most popular Hispanic cheese brands in the country with a growing presence in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast.
We also are known as the go-to Hispanic dairy co-packing and private label manufacturer for top brands and retailers. Our manufacturing facility in Kent, IL is the largest, most advanced Hispanic cheese manufacturing plant in the Midwest.
Vision
To be the #1 manufacturer and most trusted supplier of Hispanic dairy products in the US; being present in every household.
Mission
We are passionate about making the best quality and freshest Hispanic cheese, creams and yogurts for those who love Hispanic dairy products.
“Nuestro Queso for us means freshness and taking a sense of ownership in everything we do.” CEO, Mark Braun
History
Nuestro Queso, is an award-winning Illinois-based company founded in 2009 to meet the demand for authentic, high-quality Hispanic cheeses. The owners of Nuestro Queso bought a building in Kent that had been used for cheese-making since the 1940s. It was empty when they took possession of it, so the owners had to outfit it with cheesemaking equipment, including pasteurizers, vats, tables, forms, tunnels, shredders and packaging machinery. This year the company (owned by a group of investors) completed a warehouse addition; the space can be converted to a production area as the company grows.
The company is now a six-year-old business that makes Hispanic cheeses, drinkable yogurts and cultured creams. The cheeses include asadero, blanco, cotija, duranguense, fresco, panela, para frier and Oaxaca. The cheeses have won multiple awards in the United States Cheese Championship and American Cheese Society contests. The company produces its own brand, makes cheese for private-label customers and sells cheese to food manufacturers to be used in snack foods.
Channels
- Independent Retail (Hispanic market)
- Grocery Chains (mainstream)
- Mass Merchandisers
- Club
- Co-packing/Private Label
- Institutional & Food Service