Gay Lea Foods

Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd is owned by roughly 1,200 dairy farmer members across Ontario and Manitoba, per its own site; no external shareholder or foreign parent is named. A Corporations Canada federal search returned no matching entity, consistent with provincial co-operative registration, and the Ontario Business Registry blocks automated lookups so a registry confirmation could not be completed.

• About Our Co-operative | Gay Lea vendor_statement “our 1,200 dairy farmer members in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 1,200 employees across four provinces”
• The Gay Lea Foods Story | Gay Lea vendor_statement “Gay Lea Foods represents members on more than 1,200 dairy farms across Ontario and Manitoba”

Confirmed current plants are all Canadian: the Clayson Road facility in Toronto (Gay Lea, Nordica cottage cheese, subject of a 2026 $200 million expansion), Ivanhoe Cheese in Madoc, Ontario, Stirling Creamery in Stirling, Ontario, and Black River Cheese in Prince Edward County, Ontario; Franco's/Alberta Cheese uses a Calgary, Alberta phone exchange, inferred as its plant region. Hewitt's Dairy (Hagersville, Ontario) is excluded: its own site states it was sold to Dairy Fountain, a separate Mississauga processor, in 2025, even though Gay Lea's brand navigation still lists it. Plant towns of Guelph, Teeswater and Weston could not be confirmed on gaylea.com or its brand sites.

• Gay Lea Foods invests more than $200 million to help shape the future of Canadian dairy | Gay Lea press “Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited today announced an investment of more than $200 million to significantly expand its Clayson Road dairy manufacturing facility in Toronto.”
• Ivanhoe Cheese vendor_statement “11301 HWY 62 R.R. 5 Madoc, ON, Canada K0K 2K0”
• Home | Stirling Creamery vendor_statement “It's what we've been doing since 1925 in Stirling, Ontario.”
• Black River Cheese vendor_statement “Established in Prince Edward County, Ontario in 1901, Black River Cheese is renowned for its passionate dedication to producing only the finest quality cheese”
• Alberta Cheese vendor_statement “403-279-4353”
• Home | Hewitt's Dairy vendor_statement “In 2025, Hewitt's Dairy entered a new chapter under the ownership of Dairy Fountain, a dairy processor based in Mississauga, Ontario.”

Head office is in Etobicoke, Ontario, and the co-operative states more than 1,200 employees across four Canadian provinces; no foreign employee base is named.

• About Our Co-operative | Gay Lea vendor_statement “our 1,200 dairy farmer members in Ontario and Manitoba, and more than 1,200 employees across four provinces”

Canadian dairy is supply-managed and Gay Lea's raw milk comes from its own Ontario and Manitoba member-farmers; its FAQ also confirms goat milk from over 110 Ontario producers and Canadian canola oil in its Spreadables butter blend. A minority of the portfolio uses imported inputs, such as coconut in its coconut whipped cream, and cheese cultures with no published sourcing, estimated here as a small remainder.

• FAQ | Gay Lea vendor_statement “We purchase Goat milk from over 110 goat milk producers in Ontario.”
• FAQ | Gay Lea vendor_statement “Our Spreadables butter combines 60% of our Gay Lea butter and 40% Canadian Canola Oil”