Cheese_Interview

Interview with Specialty Cheese, Inc. Don Lee Marylhurst University Instructor: Alain Gracianette Abstract Eileen Eichten-Carlson, owner and manager of Specialty Cheese, Inc. was gracious enough to conduct a live telephone interview from her barn in Center City, MN. I came across Eileen’s name from a close friend Ruth Stevens from Romeo, MI. Eileen and Ruth are first cousins and their mothers are sisters. I chose Eileen based on their knowledge and success of their dairy and cheese business. Specialty Cheese, Inc. has been in business since 1976 and it was Eileen’s parents who started the business on a small farm. Eileen has been working on the farm her whole life. Even though Eileen and I had a lovely conversation, I could almost see her sitting on a bale of hay talking to me about her business and being very passionate about it. The purpose of the interview was to help me with my International Marketing class project in determining my target audience and first product offering. Eileen provided me with priceless information I could not have found conducting research. I have now determined I am going to market a high-end high-quality cheese of Dutch Gouda to the Japanese market. The Interview After completing the first two sections (cultural and economic) of my international marketing plan and talking to Eileen, she offered insight that only her experience could provide. I first introduced myself and how I acquired her business contact information as the subject of my interview assignment. We talked for a brief period about her family and I had mentioned that I was planning to export cheese to Japan. She said that her younger sister spent several years in Japan (more on that later) and found it a very interesting and culture rich country. She began the interview by giving me a brief history of the company business. Her father started the business raising dairy cows for cheese manufacturing and wanted to differentiate their business from all of the other local cheese businesses. Their goal was to offer cheese that used raw milk and not pasteurized milk. Since this process was new, it took many years overcoming the legislature regarding not pasteurizing the cheese process. After years of literally fighting with political system, they decided to focus their marketing and business efforts on artisan cheeses. Throwing around several ideas they all agreed on specializing in Dutch Gouda cheese. Their decision was based on the climate and grass grown for the cows in Minnesota emulated closest to Holland where the world’s Dutch Gouda comes from (hence the name). With this decision they were the first in the United States to farm manufacture Dutch Gouda cheese. Specialty Cheese Inc. was one of the first farm manufactured cheese processes to incorporate the natural food movement. By 1977 they were offering seasoned cheese and were the #1 in the industry. Dutch Gouda only accounted for less than 1% of the cheese market in the United States. Today their market share is at 10% for the United States with over 15 different types of Gouda cheese. Next, we discussed how they marketed their products. They wanted to keep the company small in order to stay with their mission of high-quality not high-quantity. The best advertising was word-of-mouth and stressed local farm raised cows and it made a difference in not only the taste of the cheese but their advertising campaign. My friend Ruth Stevens remembers when she was very young her Uncle Joe Eichten would always carry a cooler of Dutch Gouda cheese in the car. One time they had gone to farmers market and Uncle Joe was handing out samples of cheese at every booth at the market. He did not wait for people to seek them out, but he sought them out first. One of the benefits of Dutch Gouda cheese it does not mold easily. They cure the cheese for 10 years now and make sure all moisture and impurities are out of the cheese. Eileen told me that when they originally started to sell their cheese, waxing the out part of the cheese was normal and a standard in the industry. Most of the cheese companies used red to bring attention and color to the product. Specialty Cheese, Inc. used a light yellow wax that mirrored the original Dutch Gouda from Holland. This would differentiate their cheese from the competition who all used red wax. Upon shipment of the lighter waxed products, they were getting feedback that their cheese was not selling through the distributors and retailers due to the color of the wax. After many months of contemplating, in 1978 they changed the color to red and their sales tripled. They did not even consider that the packaging color could have so much influence on the sales of the product. They relied on their values of offering what the customer wants rather than be stubborn and keep the light colored wax. Today they have captured the Gouda cheese market in the Midwest and when you mention Gouda cheese in the store and distributors, you immediately think of Eeichtens. Based on their mail order sales, they are now expanding distribution and retail in the mid-Atlantic, mountain states, and the east coast. Asking them on their current marketing plans both the Food Network and QVC will be showcasing Eichten’s Specialty Cheeses. In conclusions, Eileen said they have been so successful because they started small and stuck to their business and marketing plan on offering a high-quality high-end cheese that was good for you to eat. Today they no longer raise dairy cows and work together with three dairy farms in purchasing their milk. They have thought about expanding into Japan and Gouda cheese would be perfect. I asked her why and she told that when a new culture experiences cheese their taste palate wants to start off mild and then get more adventurous. Cheddar cheese of all varieties has a high acid level and that can turn off a new cheese taster. Gouda cheese has a mild acid level and is more pleasing to the new taster as well it is better for cooking with the reduced acid. The market in Japan for embracing western culture leans more to the young. They are the generation who will embrace not only new technology, but new food groups into Japanese culture. This has been confirmed from preliminary research conducted locally in the Asian district of Minneapolis, MN – the Muong area. As I was saying thank you to her for her time, I could overhear the intercom on her side of the conversation and it was another order being placed by a large retail grocery chain in the mid-west. Questions Asked 1. Tell me about yourself' 2. Tell me about the products you offer' 3. Where are your products distributed' 4. Why did you start with Dutch Gouda' 5. Do you incorporate pilot programs before considering expanding into a new market' 6. Do you still hold the same values and mission you did when you started business in 1975' 7. Do you think your products would sell internationally, specifically in Japan' 8. Do you have future plans to expand into other markets' 9. What kind of advertising do you use' 10. How have you addressed packaging with your product' References E. Eichten-Carlson (personal communication, May 12, 2010)