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Abstract
Although it is not as large as its Fortune 500 brethren, St Paul, MN-based Kemps is a formidable competitor in the Upper Midwest. The Grade A dairy processor and ice cream maker dominates sales of milk and frozen desserts in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Kemps holds its own against national brands in some dairy categories. In flavored milk, Kemps is No. 3 nationally (after Nesquik and TruMoo), according to the company, while its frozen yogurt is No. 1 in the US (as measured by volume). Kemps traces its roots to an ice cream and candy business founded by William Henry Kemps in 1914. Today, it is a division of Dairy Farmers of America, the cooperative based in Kansas City, MO, that bought the company in 2011 from HP Hood, Lynnfield, MA. The dairy processor is celebrating its centennial in 2014. What's remarkable is that the Kemps brand has endured. Kemps has had a number of different parent companies in its 100-year existence.