‘Daily Report’: Jeff Kleinpeter steps down at Kleinpeter Dairy
Jeff Kleinpeter has stepped down from his position as president of Kleinpeter Farms and Dairy to take what family members describe as “temporary medical leave.” His siblings Kenny Kleinpeter, who rejoined the family business last fall after 14 years, and Sue Anne Kleinpeter Cox, the dairy’s longtime chief financial officer, will share duties running the company for the time being, says Kenny Kleinpeter.
“It’s a family medical leave issue,” Kenny Kleinpeter says. “It was as much his decision as it was ours, but it is a sensitive thing. I am praying for him because he has carried us through for a long time.”
As first reported by Daily Report, the beloved local dairy was hit hard last year by a series of quality issues that affected the taste and shelf life of its milk and caused sales to plummet. Kleinpeter has since addressed the problems through a series of costly upgrades and improvements to the equipment at its Airline Highway plant.
|
|
In a prepared statement, Jeff Kleinpeter describes his leave as a “sabbatical” and says he expects to be back on the job in 30 days.
“Fourteen months of three-hour nights is enough to wear anyone out,” reads Jeff Kleinpeter’s statement. “I hung in there with the team and we got the quality back to better than it’s been in 101 years. The complaints have gone from up to 70 a week last year to one about every two to three weeks. In each of those cases, we find it’s a refrigerator issue somewhere. We are SQF certified, which is a globally-recognized food certification. Things are back on track and I need to take a sabbatical.”
|
|
|
