Olivia Girdeen, Retail Store Manager for the Ellsworth Creamery, gave our club an overview of the history, current status, products, and economic impact of the Creamery to the Ellsworth area. Rather than trying to abbreviate such a comprehensive presentation, a pdf of the Powerpoint is available below as a Download.
In terms of economic impact, here is a summary of one slide: the Ellsworth location employs 182 people, comprising 8% of total Village of Ellsworth employment. The business impacts 1233 jobs within Pierce County indirectly or influenced (about 10% of total jobs). Each added creamery job affects 3.75 other jobs. About 45% of employees live in Ellsworth, and wages paid to those employees total just over $4 million. The retail store gets 254,000 visits per year with over 120,000 retail transactions and an estimated economic retail impact in Pierce County of almost $12 million. The business remains a cooperative, owned collectively by hundreds of farm families. The raw material for the cheeses and, of course, cheese curds made in Ellsworth come from around 200 farms.
About the Speaker: Olivia Girdeen was born and raised in Ellsworth. She started working at the Ellsworth Creamery at 16, and she has worked her way up to her current position of Retail Store Manager. In December 2023 Olivia graduated from the University of Wisconsin River Falls with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.