MAYVILLE, Wis. — A marketer, a manufacturing partner and a milk procurer are all rolled into one at Dan Carter Inc., a company an hour north of Milwaukee which focuses on all aspects of the specialty cheese business.

Dan Carter Inc., also known as DCI, is a familiar name to many in the industry as it represents a variety of specialty cheeses to both retail and foodservice buyers. But what might not be as well known is how integrally involved DCI is in the cheese business — down to the fact that it owns its own brands and has helped its manufacturing partners procure milk when they didn't have the necessary supplies.

"We're getting involved in areas where a marketer typically wouldn't get involved," says Tim Omer, president, DCI.

This hands-on involvement isn't new for DCI, although its role in the industry has grown and changed over the years.

The company's namesake, company owner Dan Carter, got into the cheese business when he joined his wife Jane's family's cheese company, Purity Cheese. After the Royer family sold Purity Cheese, Carter started his own consulting firm in 1975 with an eye toward helping small to medium cheese companies building their own branded businesses.

Along the way, the company also has developed its own brands by going to cheese manufacturers when it sees the need for a certain kind of cheese and working with the manufacturers to get production of that particular cheese started. The company is committed to helping cheese industry customers find just what they need, Omer says. As a consultant and marketer, DCI often gets the early, firsthand opportunity to see what customers need in terms of new cheeses. DCI then can go to a cheese company and say, "Can you make this?"

"If we don't have it in our line up, we'll go out and find it or create it," Omer says.

With this approach, DCI partners with a number of cheese manufacturers, both domestic and overseas. DCI even handles some commodity cheese to complement its specialty products. This allows the company to better serve the retail business as well as the foodservice industry, on which DCI has been focusing increased attention.

"Our goal is to be a one-stop shop — to make it as easy for the buyer as possible," says Linda Hook, national sales manager, DCI.

Still, the approach is on specialty cheese and the company likes to work with small- to medium-sized manufacturers who can be flexible. Only about 15 percent of the cheese the company represents can be classified as "commodity," they say.

"We're interested in people with a little capacity, who can do a start-up," Omer says. "We work with those who have the willingness to do some experimenting."

An instance of this might be DCI suggesting to a Mozzarella maker that it try making a value-added specialty product like fresh Mozzarella, particularly because the cheesemaker already knows the Mozzarella business. Sometimes it also means redirecting a company's interest in specialty cheese to a product where there's a greater need. DCI is rolling out its Northern Lights blue/Gorgonzola brand early in 2002, but Omer says there is an increasing amount of capacity for blue cheese these days as the cheese has become more popular. Soon, he believes there will be plenty of it on the market.

DCI's role has gone beyond representing existing brands, advising companies or going directly to them to ask them to make a cheese that DCI will in turn represent. DCI also has invested in some of the cheese plants with which it works.

For example, a cheese company might say it doesn't have the capital to age cheese for 90 days and DCI might invest in the storage for aging, Omer says.

"We want to be able to look at what's in a manufacturer's best interest," Omer says. "We're not out there to get the cheapest cheese."

But whether DCI invests in a cheese company or has a more typical marketing relationship with a manufacturer, DCI doesn't differentiate between the relationships when it comes to taking the cheese out to potential customers.

"No matter how we work with them, we consider the brands to be ours," Omer says.

This includes the newest brands now being rolled out: the aforementioned Northern Lights and Organic Creamery, a brand of organic cheeses introduced this summer at the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's show.

The Northern Lights brand is focused on the higher-end blue-veined cheese market and targeted toward upscale distributors and white table cloth restaurants, Hook says. Organic Creamery cheeses, made with 100 percent certified organic milk by Wisconsin cheesemakers, come in nine varieties: Colby, Muenster, Pepper Jack, Mild Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Garlic Cheddar, Tomato & Basil Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Dill Monterey Jack.

The cheeses join a vast array of familiar retail brands DCI represents including Black Diamond, Auricchio Americano, Great Midwest, Salemville, Odyssey, Casaro and Reny Picot.

The company can be seen featuring all of them at the variety of trade shows it attends throughout the nation. The staff is out in the field regularly and, in fact, DCI does very little advertising for itself — instead focusing on its cheeses.

"Our reputation has been spread by word of mouth," Omer says, noting that the company has grown roughly 30 percent in each of the past few years and now moves about 250 million pounds of cheese annually.

And while DCI doesn't believe in differentiating the treatment it gives its various brands, the company does like to give its retail and foodservice customers individual attention.

"We'll work with retailers to help them find what works best in their stores," says Omer, who notes the company offers a wide range of consulting services, including market trend analysis and sales training. "Everyone's product mix needs to be different."

"We're flexible," adds Hook. "We work with customers to meet that customer's specific needs. That's where we're really unique."

The company's expertise in consolidating cheese from a number of different sources and a global network of traders enables the company to effectively link sellers and buyers, Omer notes.

In addition, DCI does a great deal of private label packaging, with about a third of its business falling into that category. By offering both branded and private label cheese, the company also is better able to meet the needs of its customers.

"We're the best value in the cheese business," Omer says. "It's all about price, quality and service. Some customers want to have the best of the best, others are more value-added and others are focused on price. We can meet it all."

CMN