Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/102355
INTRODUCING CHEESE FOCUS R AW M I L K FA R M S T E A D CHEESES FROM HOLLAND Made by hand, this traditional Boerenkaas or "Raw Milk Farmers Cheese" has a rich sweet cream taste with a hint of Brazil nut and dried apricots. TOP 16 SUPER GOLD WINNER Out of 725 winners Buttery with a hint of roasted walnut, this Baby Swiss encompasses all the distinct characteristics of a fine, young Emmentaler with a complexity beyond its age. This traditional Boerenkaas has Italian Black Truffles sprinkled throughout the curd just prior to pressing and shaping. After 10 weeks of aging, notes of walnuts emerge and the earthy truffle flavors are fully developed. To learn more about Melkbus cheeses, visit us at DairyDial.com Do you apply the same markup to all of your cheeses? Jeff Diamond: I do, but everything in life is fungible. If I'm bringing in a cheese that's very expensive but fragile, like Vacherin Mont d'Or, it won't move at $40 a pound, but it will move at $30. Having Vacherin Mont d'Or is one of those things that sets us apart, so I'll accept a lower margin. But for a more stable cheese, with a longer life, I'll take full markup. Peter Lovis: Our target is keystone—not just doubling cost, but doubling the landed cost. If we're buying from a small cheesemaker in Vermont and the cheese comes via UPS, we include the freight cost. You need to keep the margin mix in mind. We love Rogue River Blue, but I'm not going to break the $50-a-pound mark for it. If it costs us $24 a pound delivered, I might price it at $36.99 a pound. But I'm going to sell a lot of something else that I land for $3.75 a pound and sell at $11.99 a pound. Rich Rogers: We price a lot of cheese at keystone, but we don't factor shipping into that, which takes our margin down. Sometimes we want to carry a cheese, but if we were to charge keystone, it would be ridiculously expensive. So we take a lower margin. Or if we don't have any delivery cost, we might not take full markup. With some smallformat cheeses, like Mt. Townsend Seastack, a per-pound price is ridiculous. For a while we sold it by the pound, but it got into the high thirties and that scared people off. With pricing by the piece, customers can get half of the whole cheese for $18, and that's something they can get their head around. Do you believe in sales or specials? JD: We don't do it often. When I get those restaurant coupons in the mail, I think, "That restaurant's in trouble." But I will take advantage of a great deal and pass that on to customers. One of my suppliers bought a pallet of goat Gouda—exactly the same Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 2607 40 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com STORE STATS CONCORD CHEESE SHOP Year opened: 1967 Type of store: independent stand-alone; single location Sales floor square footage: 2,000 square feet Cheeses carried: 150 to 200 Annual sales: $1.6 million FARMSTEAD CHEESES & WINES Year opened: Alameda, 2003; Oakland, 2008 Type of store: independent stand-alone; two locations Sales floor square footage: Alameda, 650 square feet; Oakland, 850 square feet Cheeses carried: 125 Annual sales: $1.6 million ($500,000 in cheese) SCARDELLO ARTISAN CHEESE Year opened: 2008 Type of store: independent stand-alone; single location Sales floor square footage: 1,200 square feet Cheeses carried: 150 Annual sales: $750,000 VALLEY CHEESE AND WINE Year opened: 2006; new location, 2012 Type of store: independent; single location in small strip mall Sales floor square footage: 2,400 square feet Cheeses carried: 100 to 140 Annual sales: N/A