EAST HAVEN, Conn. — Joseph Calabro, president and CEO of Calabro Cheese Corp., based here, didn't set out to be a cheesemaker. Born and raised in Italy, the now 78-year-old cheesemaker and business owner attended college at the University of Messina, working toward a Ph.D. in physics-mathematics. He then served in the Italian Army.

However, a move to the United States in 1948 and a business decision a few years later to begin buying and selling cheese marked a career turning point for Calabro. His company started out small — "I sold cheese out of a truck in a four-town area," Calabro says — but over the course of nearly five decades, Calabro has grown the business into a mainstay in the specialty cheese arena.

Today, Calabro's namesake company isn't just a distributor. The company manufactures its own specialty Italian cheese at a plant in East Haven, Conn., and distributes it heavily on the East Coast as well as in Colorado, Florida, Texas, Georgia and other assorted spots throughout the United States. The company still owns trucks — now a 10 truck fleet — but they're a lot larger and they're not the company's sole means of distribution. Instead of a one-man show, the company now has about 90 employees as well as distributors.

Presently Calabro Cheese manufactures and markets about 8.5 million pounds of specialty cheese annually. The company has won much recognition in specialty circles, most recently with awards for its Ricotta, Mozzarella and Queso Blanco at the American Cheese Society's annual competition held in August.

The company's recognition doesn't come from just cheese judges, either. Demand for Calabro Cheese's product is strong enough that after the company completed an expansion in 1996 which more than doubled the plant size to 54,000 square feet, it is now applying for a permit to expand the plant another 10,000 square feet this coming year.

"Every year, we have grown; we have never gone backwards," he says with a smile when talking about the demand for his product line, which also includes cheeses such as Scamorza and Caciocavallo.

Calabro Cheese has come upon this growth as Calabro has slowly but surely molded the business to meet both his expectations and the expectations of his customers.

As it is for so many people going into business for themselves, Calabro's move into selling cheese in 1953 wasn't a sure thing. In fact, it sort of happened by mistake, he says.

"I was working and thinking I would go back to Italy and finish my schooling. And a man from New York who's related to my wife told me I should sell Ricotta part-time before I went back. After four or five months of him telling me this, I told him I would try it for a few months to see if it could work," Calabro relates.

Obviously it did.

"I guess I became infected with the business," says Calabro, who ultimately found himself caught up in the business and never finished his Ph.D.

After just a few months of selling cheese, Calabro expanded the business with a second truck. In May 1958, he then joined with Gambardella Cheese Corp. in nearby New Haven, Conn., to create a 50-50 partnership known as Gambardella-Calabro Cheese Corp. A year-and-a-half later, the corporation leased and then purchased the Wells River Creamery Corp., Wells River, Vt., as a manufacturing plant, leaving the distribution in New Haven. And in 1971, Calabro took 100 percent control of the company, changing its name to Calabro Cheese.

During this time period, Calabro not only focused his attentions on running the business — he also learned about making cheese.

"I was very ignorant about cheesemaking," he says of when he first started the business. "But I learned from people over time."

In 1959, Calabro says he visited several plants, including one in Wisconsin where he worked side-by-side a fellow Italian cheesemaker, learning from him. Over the years, Calabro says he has been in dozens of plants, as well as attended seminars throughout the United States and Europe. His experience even led him to create one of the company's cheeses, a fat-free Ricotta, himself. Calabro says Calabro Cheese was the first cheese company to commercially market such a cheese.

"It was after I had my first heart attack in 1979," Calabro says. "The doctor told me to not eat this and to not eat that. So one day I said, 'Let me fool around and see if I can make some fat-free Ricotta.'"

The cheese is still on the market today.

In fact, Ricotta, including full-fat and fat-free varieties, and fresh Mozzarella are two of the company's biggest items.

The company sells to restaurants and delis, and has a strong following in the Italian community, particularly in New York.

"We sell most of our hand-dipped Ricotta in New York," he says, describing the cheese that is hand-dipped and hand-packed for draining before the cone-shaped head of white, fluffy curd is formed and covered with a thin poly-sheet secured by an elastic band to complete the packaging process.

"We still make cheese like it used to be," he continues, explaining why the company's old-fashioned cheesemaking style has given it such a foothold among Italians. "It is very easy to sell quality cheese in New York."

With the cheese particularly popular among Italians, the company has continued to grow, leading to the construction of a new, larger cheese plant in East Haven (the company's current site) in 1981, and consolidation of all operations there.

Now, though, even with the next expansion planned for later this year or early next year, Calabro says he is faced with looking for another plant.

"We have been looking to buy another plant," he says. "We can't expand here anymore."

Calabro says that the growth has come as a result of both the company's quality cheese and a focus on customer service.

He attributes much of the cheese quality to the milk he buys from co-ops in the Northeast.

"The milk we use is fresher than the milk in stores," he says. "I make the cheese the morning after we get it. Every night we finish all of the milk."

If the cheese isn't satisfactory for some reason, the company also is quick to dispose of it, he says.

"A batch we make that we don't like, we don't sent out. We want to make sure our customers receive the best Calabro Cheese can make," he says.

Calabro also believes in giving potential customers samples of cheese as an important sales tool.

"We go to our customers and to our distributors, and let them test it. They like it and they buy it," he says simply.

Calabro also touts his close communications with his customers, something that started with his truck driving days and lasts to this day. While several members of his family now work for the company, Calabro says he makes sure he knows his company's customers.

"I know my customers — small or big," he says. "I'd say 85 percent of the companies we serve, I know an owner or manager personally. I don't believe in, 'You sell the cheese and send me money.' I go there and see their facilities personally.

"We make a quality cheese for quality distributors," he adds.

Calabro doesn't use a bunch of gimmicks to market his cheese. Rather, he sticks with the tried and true quality cheese and customer service. Sampling is about the extent of special promotions, he says, noting that discounting isn't particularly common in the specialty cheese business.

"You buy my cheese because you like it and it's the best … not because I need to bribe you," he says.

CMN