FAIRFIELD, N.J. — Arthur Schuman Inc. is the nation's largest importer of Italian and Italian-style hard grating cheese and is the second largest hard cheese company in the United States. The company also is experiencing strong growth — sales have increased an average of 17 percent annually over the past few years, says Neal Schuman, company president.

Schuman attributes Arthur Schuman Inc.'s growth to the company's high quality cheese, which is a result, in part, of many long-standing relationships dating back decades. The company focuses on seeking out and developing exclusive relationships with cheese manufacturers from around the world, with cheeses from as far away as Eastern Europe and South America. The company enjoys strong ties with the Zanetti family of Italy, a renowned producer of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, and SanCor, the largest dairy cooperative in Argentina. Arthur Schuman markets its vendor brands under its own label and also uses these core products for the CELLO brand for grated and shredded cheese in bags, cups and PET jars. Other company brands are Argitoni, Bella Rosa, Empiria, Imperia and Universal.

"We have extremely long-term relationships with our vendors. We don't call them vendors; they are our partners," Schuman says.

Schuman says the company doesn't just import products from its partners. It makes a point of sending staff members to work with cheesemakers throughout Eastern Europe and South America to help them tailor products to the U.S. market and to perform quality audits. The company also makes a significant effort to understand and analyze the various countries' dairy industries as well as the international dairy market as a whole. Three members of the Schuman family also have been president of the Cheese Importers Association of America and Neal Schuman currently serves on the Dairy Agriculture Technical Advisory Committee.

Joan Allen, the company's director of marketing, says all of this helps the company provide customers with the best possible products and information.

"Because of our historic relationships, we've been able to put a lot of emphasis on quality," she says. "We have traceability of all products to date of production."

While that may not sound like something novel for a U.S. company, having traceability like that "truly is a much larger challenge for imported products," Schuman adds.

Arthur Schuman Inc. also reinvests a significant amount of money in ensuring high quality once the cheese reaches the United States. In the past two years, Arthur Schuman Inc. has made significant improvements in its state-of-the-art processing facility in Fairfield, N.J., Schuman says, spending more than $5 million to increase speed and capacity. The company has spent more than $500,000 to upgrade its quality control programs as well.

As a part of these efforts, Arthur Schuman Inc. also is expanding the formats in which it offers cheese.

When the company was first started by Neal Schuman's grandfather, Arthur, 60 years ago, cheese importers primarily sold bulk goods. However, over the years, many customers' needs have evolved to the point where they need cheese converted into smaller cuts or grated and shredded products. Thus, part of the improvements made to the company's Fairfield facility have been an effort to meet those needs, says Schuman, noting that nearly 50 percent of the product the company handles is further processed compared to about 10 percent of the cheese 10 years ago. The company operates its own on-site lab.

The company purchased Imperia Cheese Co., South Plainfield, N.J., three years ago, and has utilized that company's business as a springboard to better penetrate the shredded cheese market, Schuman says. The purchase also provided the company with a new line of dehydrated products, including tubs, cannisters and PET jars.

"We were able to gain some synergies by combining their packaging and equipment with our sources of supply for some upscale products," he says.

Arthur Schuman Inc. has a broad range of customers, with roughly a quarter representing food manufacturing, a quarter representing retail and half representing foodservice. With the addition of new equipment in the past few years, the company has expanded its offerings for all of these customers, but particularly for the foodservice and retail customers. In the past three to four years, the company introduced zippered packages for its wedges and large PET jars of shredded cheese. Cups of shredded Parmigiano Reggiano and organic products, including organic Pecorino Romano and organic Ricotta Salata, also are among the company's latest offerings. The two new organic items are made from sheep's milk cheese and imported from Italy. They join the company's organic Mascarpone and Parmigiano Reggiano.

"We recognize changes in U.S. consumer patterns, and we adapt our products," Schuman says, noting that the company also works with its manufacturing partners to help them develop products that meet the needs of U.S. customers.

Some of the newer products really are designed to speak to chefs' desires for convenience, Allen adds.

Convenience also translates well in retail, where the company is expanding its market presence. While Arthur Schuman's retail presence to date has been more focused on upscale or specialty retail chains, the company has begun to work more with club stores and other retailers, she says. The company has never done any couponing but has taken advantage of just about every other marketing format it can, including advertising, trade shows and broad sales support for its distributors. An array of recipe materials are available from the company including a 48-page color, spiral-bound booklet featuring Parmigiano-Reggiano.

While the company's focus is on hard Italian cheeses, with 98 percent of its sales in the category, the company also offers a few other specialty products such as kosher and regular Feta from Israel.

The company is in the process of adding cheeses, too, though Schuman says these will continue to be on the Italian side of the business.

"We expect to expand our vendor base," Schuman says of the coming year, noting that the company is now working with cheese companies in Brazil.

Arthur Schuman Inc. is best known as an importer, but the company also has begun making significant inroads in developing domestic hard cheese associations during the past three years.

Schuman says there are three reasons for this break with the company's previous approach: the cheese flavors and style of U.S.-produced cheese are familiar to U.S. consumers, U.S. cheese is of high quality and the need for more cheese as the company keeps growing.

"We need more cheese every year, and must expand our sourcing. It's fundamental," he says.

The challenges of keeping up with strong growth notwithstanding, the executives of Arthur Schuman Inc. plan to continue innovating while at the same time remaining true to the goals that were first established by namesake Arthur Schuman and passed down to his sons, Jerome and Howard, and grandson Neal.

"Our mission remains clear — to produce the best possible hard cheese in each hard cheese segment," Schuman says. "I believe a lot of growth is possible in our market. We're in the right place and we're good at what we do. Still, we want to get even better."

Arthur Schuman continues to work with customers to make sure the products the company provides best fit the customers' needs, Allen adds.

"Our company has a niche as being innovative, creative and flexible," she says. "We're springboarding off that basic niche. We're not trying to be all things to all people but we are spreading our wings."

CMN