SANDPOINT, IdahoLitehouse Foods Inc. hopes to nearly double its sales volume in the next five years, to almost $180 million, by making its line of refrigerated salad dressings, dips, and sauces as popular on the East Coast as they are in the Northwest.


If that growth materializes, Litehouse would need to move to a larger facility in Sandpoint and add to its work force of about 440 full-time-equivalent positions, says Edward Hawkins, who owns Litehouse with his brother, Doug. About 350 of those positions are based at the companys manufacturing-and-office facility here, and the rest are at Litehouses plant in Lowell, Mich., which the company acquired in 1997.


Theres no reason to believe Litehouse cant perpetuate its exponential growth of the last decade, Hawkins says. The companys revenue now is just under $90 million a year, up from about $23 million in 1993, he says.


Most of that growth is a result of Litehouse expanding its distribution eastward, and theres still plenty of room for further market expansion, he says.


In 1993 the majority of our business was strictly in the Weststrong in the Northwest with fledgling business in the Southwest, he says. Since then, Weve added a significant amount of business in the eastern part of the U.S., and thats where our biggest opportunities for growth still are.


Its not uncommon, for example, for a grocery store in Spokane to sell 20 to 30 cases of Litehouse products a week, whereas a new retail account on the East Coast might sell only one or two cases a week, Hawkins says. The brothers believe that in time, they can bring those Eastern accounts in line with sales here.


The market for salad dressings that are sold in stores refrigerated produce departmentsversus those that are sold on grocery-store shelvesis generally speaking, better developed in the West, and we feel were a large part of that, Doug Hawkins says.


Edward Hawkins says grocery stores ring up about $1.9 billion in sales of non-refrigerated salad dressings each year, while refrigerated salad dressings account for $300 million in sales.


We see opportunities to grow our business because so many customers havent tried us yet, he says.


Whats more, Litehouse products are sold in just about half of the stores where they are capable of being sold, he says, so, We have lots of opportunities to grow geographically.


Staying put in Sandpoint


Dont look for Litehouse to move its operations elsewhere to fuel that growth.


Our family has lived here since 1881, Edward says. One of the reasons were in business is to create good, solid jobs in this community. Its one of our core values.


For that reason, too, Litehouse isnt for sale and never will be, the brothers asserteven though they get several calls a month inquiring about a potential acquisition.


If we sold the company or if we go broke, the impact on our employees is the same, Edward says.


Litehouse likely will need to move to larger facilities in the next three to five years, he says, although a site hasnt been identified yet.


The company occupies about 154,000 square feet of space in the Sandpoint area, most of it in a 90,000-square-foot office-and-manufacturing plant at 1109 N. Ella, just northwest of downtown.


Litehouses bustling industrial operation stands in stark contrast to its modest beginning as a family-owned restaurant in Hope, Idaho, located about 20 miles east, also on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.


While working as a chef in Spokane, the Hawkins father, Edward Hawkins Sr., developed what at the time was a unique creamy blue cheese salad dressing. In 1958, Hawkins Sr. and his wife, Lorena Hawkins, opened their restaurant, The Litehouse, where he served his trademark dressing.


It wasnt long before patrons started bringing empty jars so they could take home some of the delicious dressing, says a history of the company thats posted on its Web site.


The Hawkins family started selling the dressing to a local grocer in Sandpoint, and the business grew. It moved into its current plant in the late 1970s.


Currently, Litehouse sells more than 1,200 items, including different products and different sizes or containers of the same product, Edward says.


From its blue-cheese origins, the company has expanded into a full line of salad dressings, fruit and vegetable dips, marinades, sauces, freeze-dried herbs, and organic salad dressings. Litehouse sells about 76 percent of its products through retail outlets, and the rest to food-service customers, such as hotels and restaurants.


The brothers say a fast-growing part of the business has been supplying dressings for packaged salad kits, which have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.


A year ago, Litehouse also added blue-cheese crumbles to its lineup. The addition came about by necessity, Edward says.


Litehouse uses 800,000 pounds of kosher blue cheese each year, but the companys supplier didnt want to make kosher cheese in the batch sizes that Litehouse required, he says. After looking around for another supplier, the Hawkinses discovered a small cheese factory in their back yardSandpointand bought the business in late 2001. Now, Litehouse manufactures its own blue cheese in Sandpoint and, because of zoning requirements, operates a retail shop there, too, which has become something of a tourist attraction.


Over the long journey from family restaurant to national presence, Edward says hes most proud of the fact that he and his brother are still a part of this. It hasnt passed us by. Were still able to contribute in a positive way.


It hasnt been decided whether or not the next generation of Hawkins family members someday will take the helm at Litehouse, but it really doesnt matter, he adds.


We built it to last beyond Doug and myself in this community.