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Smith Dairy Products Company Union Pension Plan
The Smith Dairy Products Company Union Pension Plan was established in 2001 as a noncontributory defined benefit plan for hourly workers represented by Local...
Smith Dairy Products Company Union Pension Plan
The Smith Dairy Products Company Union Pension Plan was established in 2001 as a noncontributory defined benefit plan for hourly workers represented by Local Union No. 348 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Plan administrator Nate Schmid, who also serves as president and CEO of plan sponsor SmithFoods Orrville Inc, oversees a pool of assets estimated at roughly $7 million. The plan's existence is inseparable from the fortunes of a single processing plant at 1381 Dairy Lane in Orrville, Ohio, where third-generation family member Stephen W. Schmid helped build the brand before the October 2024 acquisition of SmithFoods by Prairie Farms Dairy (per public record, 2024). The plan does not deploy capital as an institutional direct investor. Rather than allocating to venture funds or direct deals, its assets reside in insurance-company separate accounts managed by Sentry Life Insurance Company, a strategy common among smaller Midwestern union pension plans that seek guaranteed-issue products with defined crediting rates. Identified holdings include Sentry's REIT Index Account, Small Cap Blend Account III, Small Cap Growth Account, Small Cap Index Account, Small Cap Value Fund, Balanced Accounts, Concentrated Growth Account, and Diversified Accounts, all booked in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. This structure funnels union retirement capital into pooled insurance products covering equities, real estate, and balanced mandates without requiring an in-house investment staff. The plan operates with no dedicated investment professionals beyond Schmid's administrative oversight. Its governance is tied to the collective bargaining relationship between SmithFoods and the Teamsters local, making contribution levels and benefit formulas a function of labor negotiations rather than portfolio returns. The Schmid family's broader footprint includes philanthropic vehicles such as the Chris Schmid Memorial Fund and ongoing support for the Orrville Area Boys & Girls Club, while Eddie Steiner, a SmithFoods vice president, sits on the board of Park National Bank and the Ohio Bankers League. In October 2024, Prairie Farms Dairy acquired SmithFoods Orrville Inc, a transaction that raises questions about the pension plan's long-term sponsorship as the founding family exits the operating business. The plan's structural differentiator is its extreme embeddedness in a single-site industrial employer. There is no corporate parent with multiple subsidiaries, no multi-employer pooling arrangement, and no investment consultant. The entire corpus is managed through annuity-style insurance products, making this plan a nearly pure expression of the single-employer defined benefit model that dominated American manufacturing before the shift to 401(k) plans. Its future will likely be determined by whether Prairie Farms maintains or terminates the legacy union pension obligation it acquired with the plant.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
2001
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Orrville
Corporate office
Orrville, OH, United States
Principals
Nate Schmid
President and CEO of SmithFoods Orrville Inc and Plan Administrator
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at the Smith Dairy Products Company Union Pension Plan?
Plan administrator Nate Schmid, president and CEO of SmithFoods Orrville Inc, is the named fiduciary responsible for plan oversight. There is no dedicated chief investment officer or investment committee disclosed. Asset allocation is implemented through insurance-company separate accounts, not through direct security selection by plan officials.
How does the plan invest its assets?
The plan's assets are held in a series of separate accounts with Sentry Life Insurance Company, based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. These accounts span equities (small cap blend, small cap growth, small cap value, small cap index), real estate (REIT index), balanced mandates, concentrated growth, and diversified strategies. This insurance-company platform approach is standard for smaller defined benefit plans that lack the scale to access institutional separate account managers directly.
How is the plan related to SmithFoods Orrville Inc?
SmithFoods Orrville Inc is the plan sponsor and the entity that employs the union members covered by the pension. The plan is a noncontributory defined benefit arrangement, meaning the employer bears the funding obligation. In October 2024, Prairie Farms Dairy acquired SmithFoods Orrville Inc, raising the question of whether the pension obligation will be maintained, merged into a Prairie Farms plan, or terminated.
Which union represents the plan participants?
Local Union No. 348 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents the workers whose retirement benefits are governed by this plan. The plan's benefit formula and contribution schedule are products of collective bargaining between the union and SmithFoods management.
What becomes of the pension plan after Prairie Farms acquired SmithFoods?
The October 2024 acquisition by Prairie Farms Dairy introduces uncertainty. Prairie Farms could assume sponsorship and continue funding the plan, merge it into an existing Prairie Farms pension arrangement, freeze benefit accruals, or pursue a standard termination through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation if the plan is adequately funded. No public announcement has clarified the acquirer's intentions regarding the inherited union pension obligation.
Does the plan invest in private equity, venture capital, or direct company investments?
No. The plan's entire identifiable investment platform consists of insurance-company separate accounts providing exposure to public equities, REITs, and balanced strategies. There is no evidence of limited partnership commitments, co-investments, or direct stakes in operating companies beyond the pooled products offered by Sentry Life Insurance.
What is the stated current asset size of the plan?
The plan does not publicly disclose its asset total. Altss estimates the corpus at roughly $7 million based on available records, placing it at the bottom of the institutional pension universe. This estimate reflects the plan's status as a single-employer, single-facility arrangement serving a modest bargaining unit in Orrville, Ohio.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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