It’s been a bit of a rough decade for Humboldt Creamery. The Creamery, a local economic stalwart, was forced into bankruptcy in 2009, after its then-CEO, Rich Ghilarducci, was found to have cooked the books on a massive scale. The Creamery survived the crisis, but just barely — it was forced to sell its assets to agricultural giant Foster Farms, losing its status as an independent dairy cooperative. While it kept its brand and labeling, the Creamery was subsumed into Foster Farms’ dairy division, Crystal.

Outwardly, at least, Humboldt Creamery has stayed pretty static since the takeover. You see the same red and blue containers on the same local shelves, perhaps with the Creamery’s organic line of products taking up a bit more space. This week, though, Foster Farms announced a few big, bold moves, which seem to indicate that the company has high hopes for the Humboldt brand.

In the first place, the company announced that a few large retail chains — Sam’s Club and Costco — will soon be carrying Humboldt Creamery gallons. In the second, it has announced that the Creamery will be officially “relaunching” at Saturday’s Oyster Festival on the Arcata Plaza, where they’ll be handing out milk and cookies to people presumably already stuffed to the gills on oysters, and unveiling their new logo.

Reached Tuesday, branding consultant Susan Howe, who worked with Foster Farms on the relaunch, had a lot to say about the logo, and in doing so gave some clues about where the company is hoping to take the Humboldt Creamery brand — basically, head-to-head with the largest players in the organic space, such as Strauss Creamery and Organic Valley.

“What [Humboldt Creamery] is, at the moment … it’s almost an untold story,” Howe said. “Humboldt Creamery is definitely a presence in the dairy world, but it’s not a major, major player.”

The logo, she said, is meant to invoke the foggy, place-out-of time mystique that the phrase “Humboldt County” evokes in the jumbled mind of the consumer from outside our corner of the country. She said that people associate Humboldt with ruggedness, nature and purity, and that the new label, which will be rolled out on all products over the coming months, is meant to reinforce those associations in a subtle, simple way — the lone cow, the ridgelines fading into the horizon, the pseudo-antique ribbon design and lettering.

“It’s so far away and elusive that it has this mystique of a little bit of paradise,” she said. “It’s not a Kraft or a Nestle or one of those mega-conglomerates – it’s a real place, it’s a real dairy, and it has a reason for being.”

So while Humboldt Creamery finds its way onto the shelves of big boxes and massive retail chains, Foster Farms seems to have hopes to position it as its high-end brand, while Crystal holds its place as a mass-market consumer product. Meanwhile, it’s not just the logo that has undergone changes — the company has been putting resources into a big social media push, with an updated web site and a professional-grade Instagram account, both of which hammer home the main pitch points — rugged, wild, pure.

Press release from Humboldt Creamery follows:

With an eye on the ever-growing consumer demand for organic foods, Humboldt Creamery is relaunching its business and significantly expanding distribution of its certified organic milk throughout California. Humboldt Creamery certified organic whole and 2% milk is now available in Sam’s Club stores in California. Costco stores in select northern California locations are also debuting Humboldt Creamery’s new packaging and branding of its organic whole milk.

Founded in 1929, Humboldt Creamery has been owned by Crystal Creamery and the Foster family since 2009. Humboldt Creamery has been sourcing local dairy milk and producing dairy products for more than 80 years. In 2003 the creamery first introduced its organic dairy products with the certification of its facility at Fernbridge. Crystal Creamery’s considerable investment in the facility has maintained the company’s long-standing commitment to the highest quality premium dairy products.

“Our primary goal is to make premium organic dairy products available to a broad section of consumers. We don’t see organic milk as a niche market – it is very much mainstream,” noted CEO Frank Otis. “When we purchased Humboldt Creamery we saw a tremendous opportunity. This region is one of the most pristine places on earth for grazing dairy cows, and the company had a long history of making organic dairy products. With our resources in the dairy business, we felt we could make Humboldt Creamery one of the leading organic dairy producers in the U.S. The relaunch of Humboldt Creamery and the availability of our milk in Sam’s Club and Costco are just the beginning of what promises to be an exciting year for us.”

Humboldt/Del Norte’s ideal combination of climate, soils and geography make it the perfect environment for dairy cows, as they are able to graze and forage year-round on nutrient-rich grasses. Ample fog off the Pacific Ocean helps keep grass green, while repeated flooding of the region’s rivers contributes to the nutrient-rich valley soils. Humboldt Creamery’s organic certification ensures that all its dairy products come from cows that have grazed on organic pastures free from pesticides, have not been treated with antibiotics or hormones and are fed from non-GMO feed sources.

With its expansion from a local dairy to statewide distribution in 2015, Humboldt Creamery has also undertaken a complete redesign of its packaging and branding to refresh its look and to maintain an authentic, classic feel for its products. The new label and branding underscore Humboldt Creamery’s position as a producer of high-quality organic dairy products and its long heritage in the dairy business.

The initial rebranded products introduced by Humboldt Creamery this spring are Organic Whole Milk and Organic 2% Reduced Fat Milk in one-gallon milk containers. Later this year, rebranded half-gallon milks will be introduced, along with rebranded ice cream, butter, sour cream and cottage cheese, all certified organic. Humboldt Creamery is also committed to innovation. A variety of new value-added offerings are currently in the development pipeline.