Humans have been turning milk into cheese for thousands of years, but Plymouth, Wisc.-based Sargento is still finding ways to innovate the process or come up with entirely new products.
The company’s most recent creation, which debuted earlier this year, is “natural” American cheese, which includes about half the ingredients found in typical processed American cheese while delivering the same taste, flavor and texture.
Innovation has been a focus at Sargento since its founding 72 years ago by Leonard Gentine, Sr., and Joe Sartori, who combined their last names to create the first two syllables of the company name. They added the “O” at the end to maintain an Italian-sounding name, since their first products were Italian-style cheeses like provolone and mozzarella. At the time, such “exotic” cheese was not readily available in consumer-sized packaging.
An early objective for Leonard, a former funeral home director, was making hires who also took a forward-thinking approach to the business. “[My grandfather] knew that he needed to surround himself with people more capable than himself, so that we could do the innovative things that he dreamed of,” says Louie Gentine, third-generation chairman and CEO of the company.
Over the next seven decades, that innovation has included the introduction of vacuum-sealed cheese, as well as bringing sliced cheese and then pre-shredded cheese (produced via a process inspired by a pasta maker) to the market. Sargento is credited with selling the first perishable food product in a resealable package and was also the first to combine two shredded cheeses in a blend for consumers.
In addition, Sargento revolutionized dairy displays by introducing peg bars to hold up products so they no longer had to lay flat on the refrigerated shelves. That innovation required redesigning their packaging and training their sales team to install the new displays — once they convinced supermarkets to use them.
Sargento’s innovations have also helped to diversify its business. The company now also has a separate business division that produces custom cheese products for national restaurant groups and food manufacturers.
A One-Family Business
Leonard Gentine bought out his partner in the 1960s, later passing the business to his three sons. Louie, now 50, joined the wholly family-owned company in 2000, after spending a few years as a commercial banker in Chicago (all family members must work outside of the business for at least three years before joining the company.)
“I didn’t come back to Sargento because of my love of cheese,” Gentine says. “It really was how impressed I was with what my grandfather and my dad and uncles were able to do [in building] long-term stakeholder value. I really wanted to be able to carry that on.”
Upon his return, Louie held leadership roles in marketing, production and procurement before heading up the company’s consumer products division, its largest business unit. He became CEO in 2013, implementing a three-year strategic planning process (which the company continues to use in an evolved form), growing annual sales to more than $1 billion.
“That outlines our goals and objectives, including the new products that we want to introduce for the next three years,” Louie says. “Some new products go out beyond [that time frame] because the development time on some of those things is much longer than even three years.”
Until he retired earlier this year, Mike “Mac” McEvoy, 54, who is married to Louie’s cousin, relied heavily on that plan in his role as executive vice president of operations.
“That was a way for each of us, as function leads, to come together and march in an aligned fashion with a three-year plan, and ultimately a one-year operating plan that was always very in tune with the needs of the business, the big innovation launches that were coming and how we needed to allocate resources accordingly,” says Mac, who remains an advisor to the company.
Mac joined the company in 1997 and led the operations team from 2013 until his 2025 retirement. In that role, he aimed to apply that same innovation-first mindset that drove the product side of the business to operations. That meant a lot of effort and focus on implementing automation, but with a commitment to never do so at the expense of a Sargento worker’s job.
“If we put automation in place, we’re not going to lay employees off,” he says. “We always find different homes — maybe not the exact same job — but something similar to keep them gainfully employed here at Sargento.”
The Family’s Influence
Mac’s departure leaves Louie as the only family member currently working in the business, but the wider family still has influence via the nine-member Sargento board, which includes four family members and five independent directors with industry experience.
“From a family shareholder perspective, I rely on the board to help show the shareholders how my management team and I are performing,” he says. “I also send out quarterly communication to the shareholders to keep them involved and engaged with the things that are going on. Having that fiduciary board helps us maintain that support of the broader shareholder family.”
Louie and Mac are hopeful that one or more of the 35 fourth-generation Gentines will one day join the business. About a decade ago, they created a family participation plan that begins for family members in eighth grade and continues through their college years. Many of the members of that generation never knew Leonard Gentine, but the program gives them an opportunity to learn about Sargento and to work or job shadow people throughout the business.
“I always wanted to be a bridge between my father-in-law, his brothers and my kids, if they ever wanted the opportunity to come back and work here are Sargento,” Mac says. “I was very proud to have worked my way up from starting in the plant to being an executive here at the organization.”
Once they turn 18, members of the family participation plan must spend at least one summer working in the company’s plant. Nearly all eligible family members have taken advantage of that opportunity.
“The feedback from our employees of being able to work side-by-side with that generation has been tremendous, and the kids have an appreciation for where our products come from and what it takes to make them,” Mac says. “That experience has really been a big win.”
The family also recently had an all-generation get-together that combined education on the company with an opportunity to simply forge connections among the now 56 descendants (and 21 spouses) across five generations. Most Gentines live throughout the Midwest, but there are a few who have moved further away in the U.S. or abroad. Such geographic challenges can make it harder to feel connected to the family — or the company.
“From my perspective, going to my Grandma and Grandpa’s pool pretty much every weekend with my cousins, and getting to know them as a kid, is a huge benefit to me as I am now running and leading the organization,” Louie says.
Despite the company’s engagement efforts, Louie says there’s no pressure for fourth generation family members to join Sargento full-time.
“We have seen too many family businesses fail because you have family members who, ultimately, deep down, don’t really want to be there or are taking advantage of the situation,” he says. “There are a lot of eyeballs watching family members, and if you’re not 110% all in, the broader organization is going to see it.”
A Culture of Community
Care for the employees who make up that broader organization is a key attribute of Sargento’s long-term success and a mainstay of Louie’s leadership style, he says.
“I really try to connect with anybody in the organization in a sincere and meaningful way,” he says. “I don’t always agree with everybody, but I listen to people and we have a great dialogue. I put a lot of effort into building trust and respect within the Sargento family.”
Connecting with employees on an individual basis has gotten harder as the company has grown. It now boasts about 2,400 employees across five locations throughout Wisconsin.
“People want to see family members, myself specifically, more often than they probably do,” Louie concedes. “But we’re trying to grow as a company, and it’s just not easy to do all of the things that we used to do when we were smaller.”
Still, Sargento has several events every year aimed at fostering that sense of community. These include hosting an annual picnic and sending all employees and retirees gifts at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The company also hosts service award dinners to honor five-year multiple employment anniversaries and a retiree luncheon bringing together 350 retirees every December.
“We do all of these things to make sure everyone understands the value they bring or have brought to the organization,” Louie says.
More than 100 employees have been with Sargento for more than 30 years, including one employee who recently hit her 60-year anniversary.
Sargento also emphasizes community involvement, both for employees and as a company. Last year, employees clocked nearly 3,000 hours of company-led community service, including for local organizations, such as Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity, United Way and the Sleep in Heavenly Peace initiative.
The company is one of five local businesses to contribute $2 million to launch the Forward Fund, a community partnership aimed at boosting affordable home ownership in Sheboygan County.
“It would be very easy for companies of that size to be safe and just do things in bigger cities, but they continue to grow here,” says Don Hammond, chair of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation. “They continue to invest and expand here, even outside of their normal operations.”
That growth is especially valuable to the community, given their status as a private, family-owned company, Hammond says.
“You don’t have to worry about a private equity firm coming in and then moving the operations someplace to save a dollar or two,” he explains. “You just know they’re going to be there, and they’ve got good leadership and a good grasp of the future.”
In May, the company announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Plymouth, with all new manufacturing technology, enhanced employee ergonomics and room for future growth.
Beyond the Dairy Aisle
Looking ahead, Louie says company’s goal is to become the “most innovative, best-loved real food company.”
“I purposely kept dairy and natural cheese out of our vision, because I believe that long-term, we have capabilities as an organization to do and bring other innovations to our customers in other real food categories. What are those? I don’t know right now.”
Sargento is already starting to think more broadly about its product offerings, thanks to recent partnerships with other food manufacturers. In February, it partnered with Mondelez International to produce “Sargento Cheese Bakes,” available in the cracker aisle. In March, the companies launched a shareable cheese-and-cracker platter featuring Sargento cheese and Mondelez’s Ritz or Triscuit crackers. The same month, Sargento introduced seasoned shredded cheese, including flavors like Frank’s RedHot and Cholula, through a partnership with the spice manufacturer McCormick & Company.
“[Those deals] are introducing other households to the Sargento brand,” Louie says. “Those are steps in our journey to be the most innovative, best loved real food company. And there’s a lot more to come.”