Broadview Manager Resigns Mike Matthey Bows Out At Local Dairy After Tumultuous 30-Month Tenure

Broadview Dairy, a Spokane company rocked in the past year by a labor strike, leaking milk cartons and financial losses, hit another bump recently with the resignation of general manager Mike Matthey.

Matthey, a salty manager who was hired to turn the company around, resigned in May after 30 months on the job.

Art Coffey, chief operating officer at Goodale & Barbieri Cos., Broadview’s parent company, was named acting general manager until a permanent replacement is hired.

“Mike brought to the dairy what he felt he could,” Coffey said. “He left on good terms.”

Matthey was unavailable for comment.

After a three-year hiatus from the dairy business, Matthey in late 1993 joined Broadview, a milk bottling and daily processing plant at Washington Street and Cataldo Avenue. The company has 90 employees.

Matthey predicted in 1994 that Broadview would increase sales to $24 million per year and turn a profit.

“I’m a good bet. No one has ever lost money on me,” he told The Spokesman-Review at that time.

But when Broadview began labor negotiations last year with members of the Teamsters Union Local No. 582, Coffey said the dairy had lost $400,000 in four years.

Unable to reach an agreement, the Teamsters called a strike but many workers crossed the picket line. In January, the union conceded to Broadview’s terms, including a pay cut and a profit-sharing bonus.

During the strike, some schools complained that Broadview milk cartons were leaking.

However, Broadview this year has aggressively expanded. It bought a small dairy in Walla Walla and introduced a line of fat-free products.

“Things are going well,” Coffey said. “It’s definitely not turmoil over here, I can tell you that.”

, DataTimes