The Rural Voice, 2001-02, Page 14"Our experience
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10 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Small scale cheese... big potential
On a small scale one entrepreneur
has found that you can overcome
government regulations even in the
dairy industry. Hilary Abbott opened
his micro -cheese processing plant
within six
months of
applying for
milk, health
inspections,
zoning and
ministry
approvals.
Abbott's
Choice Fine
Cheeses are
now available
from Cheese
Point Farm near
Cowichan Bay
on Vancouver
Island, and he
had the cheese to prove it at a recent
farmers' meeting in Nanaimo.
Hilary and his wife Patty own no
cows on their nine -acre small
holding, but have a five-year contract
with the Canadian Dairy
Commission's Domestic Dairy
Innovative Program to purchase raw
milk. They get their supplies from
Royal Oak and Capri Dairies in
Victoria. They use both cow and
goat's milk. Hilary is now looking
for a supplier of sheep's milk to
increase his specialty handcrafted
cheeses.
The contract volume of milk for
Abbott's Choice Cheese allows
Hilary to expand to about 3,400 litres
per week. He says he is only at one
third of that volume now, as his start-
up date was only last November. In
part he is still at the stage of testing
his markets and his production
techniques.
The milk contract was issued to
serve Vancouver Island where there
is no cheddar curd manufactured, no
brush or washed rind cheddar and no
camembert cheeses. Hilary will also
be supplying cheese in the small
(hockey puck size), crottin format.
His list of cheeses now include Brie
and is expanding because of the use
of goat's milk for variety. He says
that he will also adapt his process to
meet the needs of the market or
specialized buyers such as the use of
spices or additional aging.
He has already been in talks with
an Island supermarket chain and had
his product and process passed.
When he has the necessary product
volume he will begin to supply one
store close to him, and others as
volume grows. Initially his
marketing thrust was through a local
farmer's market, but he is currently
making the rounds of local
restaurants and hotels to see if they
wish to feature Island specialty
cheeses.
His batch pasteurizers, of which
he has three, were purchased
secondhand as they are too small for
normal commercial use. Their age
now makes them obsolete for most
purposes. The vat sizes range from
50 - 100 gallons so he is able to run
trials without too much risk of large
loss.
The investment has been modest
in equipment as it is mostly preused
and he uses his large home basement
for processing and storage. He
estimates his initial equipment start-
up costs at $10,000 to $15,000, but is
looking at further investment costs
for packaging and marketing.
Why did Hilary seek to re-
establish an art that is nearly lost on
Vancouver Island in the manufacture
of hand-crafted specialty cheeses?
He says that he wanted to start his
own business, have more control and
more options, than when he was at
The Cowichan Cheese Co. in 1992.
With two cheese -making short
courses behind him and practical
experience in the business, both on
the floor and in the politics of getting
started, he says his knowledge is
there for anyone looking at a similar
micro -cheese business. The company
is at Box 4, Cowichan, Bay, BC.
VOR 1 N0.0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.