CEO credits Gossner Foods Inc.'s success to teamwork

In order to gain more clients, Gossner Foods has come out with cheeses to appeal to different consumers' needs. The company has come out with a variety of cheese spreads, flavors of milk and low fat cheeses to do so.

With the improved working conditions for factory employees, computers and the Internet-quickened pace for delivery, the company hasn't changed how it does business with its more than 300 farmers in Utah and Idaho.

"We've never signed a contract with a farmer; it's a handshake," Wheeler said. Her father always said, "A handshake with a farmer is as good as any written contract."

But running the company hasn't always been fun and easy. Wheeler said she inherited a pretty difficult situation. Machines needed to be fixed or replaced, but the company didn't have the money and it needed more customers.

The thing that got her and the company through it was prayer, and lots of it.

"It took a lot of prayers and a lot of learning to be able to run a business," Wheeler said with a somewhat somber tone in her voice. "I don't know what I would've done if I didn't have faith in God."

Wheeler also attributed the company's lasting success to the good people she works with.

"If there's one thing I've learned, you work as a team," Wheeler said.

She has no plans of retiring anytime soon because she enjoys her work so much.

"I would only step down if I felt like I couldn't do the job, either physically or mentally," she said.

email: bbullock@desnews.com