| March 10, 2000 For a listing of previous Retail Watch stories, please see our Retail Watch Archive.  |
| Sanchelima plans to expand as demand for authentic Hispanic cheese grows | ||
| By Kate Sander
MIAMI — While many small family-owned businesses focus on specializing in one market, there are those businesses that are able to take what has been learned in the first market — cheese production, for example — and parlay that knowledge to another aligned market — such as cheese manufacturing equipment. And that's exactly what the Sanchelima family has done. Sanchelima Dairy Products is a small Hispanic-style cheese manufacturer based in Miami. Its sister company, Sanchelima International, is a cheese equipment manufacturer whose greatest testament to equipment quality is Sanchelima Dairy Products' success. Often times when a family operates two such businesses, one may appear to take precedence over the other. In the case of Sanchelima, in recent months Sanchelima International's new continuous gelation system has received a great deal of attention. However, the smaller cheese manufacturing business also has experienced continued growth. |
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| For its customers in the Eastern part of the United States, particularly in Cuban communities in Miami, New York and Chicago, Sanchelima Dairy Products is the source of cheese that doesn't just resemble the cheese from their homeland — it's just like the cheese from their homeland. It's this authenticity, combined with an emphasis on high quality, that's made Sanchelima's Queso Blanco a leading player in the Puerto Rican market and a well-known name in supermarkets with a strong Cuban and Hispanic customer base. It's also what's leading Sanchelima Dairy Products toward expanding its production capabilities, says Juan Andres Sanchelima, company president and CEO.
Sanchelima took over Sanchelima Dairy Products' operations in 1998 after buying out his father Juan Sanchelima's business partners after the death of the elder Sanchelima. However, Juan Andres Sanchelima wasn't new to the business — both he and his brother, Jay Sanchelima, who serves as corporate counsel, grew up with the business that their father started after emigrating from Cuba in 1960. The cheese business grew out of the elder Sanchelima's experience selling deli products in Cuba as well as his connection with the Cuban community. "When my father came from Cuba he had nothing but 54 cents in his pocket," says Juan Andres Sanchelima. "But he was well-known for selling chickens and eggs in Cuba and he knew how to make cheese from living in the countryside." So taking what he knew best, Juan Sanchelima began selling eggs and other deli items. Juan Sanchelima then purchased a Tampa cheese company that had gone bankrupt. Explaining why his father bought the cheese business, Juan Andres Sanchelima says, "the Cuban population continuously asked for cheese." • Culturally-focused cheesemaking Over the years, Sanchelima Dairy Products has focused on making and marketing cheeses particularly for customers of Cuban and Caribbean descent. For the uninitiated, one Queso Blanco may seem the same as another. But that's not the case, says Sanchelima. "The Mexicans like Queso Blanco in a certain way. The Queso Blanco Fresco we sell is more Caribbean-style than Hispanic," he says, explaining his company's cheeses are more flavorful Queso Blancos. Sanchelima also believes his cheese isn't as salty as others. "A big problem with Hispanic cheeses are they salt them too much. We don't do it as much," he says, explaining this is because the cheese's microbiological quality is so high that it doesn't need as much salt to preserve it. Sanchelima Dairy Products focuses on making three different types of Queso Blanco. The non-pressed, fresh Queso Blanco Fresco is the most mild and has a 30-day shelf-life. It's sold under the name Mambi, so named after old Cuban warriors who fought in the Spanish Revolution. In addition, the company now is launching a Queso Blanco and guava pack because guava is popular among Cubans. The ready-to-eat pack, complete with a plastic knife, is designed to be taken to the beach or to work, Sanchelima says. Then there's the company's pressed Queso Blanco, which has less moisture than Mambi, and is sold under the D'Hoja brand. D'Hoja is reminiscent of the old days when the company would wrap the cheese in leaves so it would maintain its white characteristics, Sanchelima says. The cheeses are unique because the company uses cultures from the Italian company Centro Sperimentale Latte, Sanchelima says. The Sanchelima family also distributes these cultures in South America through its Lacti-Lab company — the third and final component of the Sanchelima family businesses. Thus, Sanchelima International and Lacti-Lab combine to provide a full-service supplier offering complete cheesemaking solutions. This is an offering that comes directly from the experience gained through making cheese at Sanchelima Dairy Products. "The experience we've gained (at Sanchelima Dairy Products) is now being used in other plants in South America," Sanchelima says. • Encouraging growth of Queso Blanco sales in the deli The quality of Sanchelima Dairy Products' cheese speaks for itself, Sanchelima goes on to say. "We haven't done a lot of advertising. Flavor and quality have made the sale," he says. What marketing the company has done has primarily been through Spanish radio and Spanish newspaper advertisements in markets where there are large Cuban populations — Miami, New York, Chicago, New Orleans and Puerto Rico, among others. The company is a major player in the Puerto Rican cheese market and is in all of the bodegas — stores specializing in Hispanic groceries — in the major markets the company is in. Overall, the company's sales are small with cheese production at about 1 million pounds a year. However, in its smaller, older plant, Sanchelima Dairy Products has reached its capacity and demand hasn't waned, thus forcing Sanchelima to pursue a new plant site. He hopes to break ground for a new plant later this year which will have the capacity to produce 3 million pounds of cheese annually.
"I hope our strong presence in Puerto Rico will help find a stronger customer base here," he says, explaining he hopes to reach more Puerto Ricans living in the United States with his cheese. Part of reaching those customers, he says, is an effort to try to get more U.S. retailers to market Hispanic-style cheeses in the deli. "American chains don't think of Queso Blanco as something they can sell in delis. But 40 percent of our sales are in Cuban delicatessens. I suggest they handle our cheeses on the deli side — the sales potential is there," Sanchelima says. With the expansion, the company also may broaden its product offerings, he says. "We want to maintain our focus on fresh-type products, so we're considering Hispanic creams, yogurts and other types of cheeses," he says. And like all aspects of the Sanchelima family businesses, these prospective product lines will utilize the expertise of the other businesses to make the products the best they can be, he says. "The flavor and quality of our products will give us the edge," he says. CMN |
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With the new plant, Sanchelima also hopes to expand the company's reach, particularly in the eastern half of the United States.P.O. Box 620244
Middleton, WI 53562-0244
Phone: (608) 831-6002
Fax: (608) 831-1004