TOOELE, Utah — Many people enjoy goat's milk cheese. But few people appreciate it so much that they will start their own business making it, particularly if they've never made cheese or cared for goats. The sheer magnitude of such a task often turns even the most ardent cheese connoisseurs away.

However, Mathew Arbshay is an exception, a man who embraced what it takes to run a small specialty cheese company. A Utah real estate developer, Arbshay didn't know much about making cheese before making his first foray into the business in the late 1990s. What he did know, though, was that goat's milk cheese was his favorite food — and a healthy one at that. He's now managed to turn that love of cheese into a fledgling business, known as Shepherds Goat and Sheep Dairy Products LLC, which is gaining a following among high-end restaurants for its high-quality Chevre and Feta. The company also is in the process of introducing an aged Mozzarella it calls Sahar.

Arbshay started the company in 1999 and started experimenting with making cheese at Utah State University. He soon decided, though, that in order to make the best cheese possible, he wanted to hire a cheesemaker with some expertise. That expertise was found in Vaughn Oborn, a cheesemaker who has worked in a number of dairy plants including those owned by Dairyman's Cooperative Creamery Association and Dairy Farmers of America.

Having worked in some large plants, Oborn says that he has brought with him "a deep understanding of what it takes to do it right."

"Even though we're a small, artisanal cheesemaker, we bring the expertise of the big boys," Oborn says.

Shepherds Dairy encompasses the best of both worlds, Arbshay and Oborn say, because the company knows how the biggest companies make cheese and who the best ingredient suppliers are but at the same time the company can hand-craft product from milk that's quite a bit different from cow's milk and results in excellent product.

While Oborn has special cheesemaking techniques that make his cheese what it is, both Oborn and Arbshay are quick to point to the milk they use as being a key to the company's success.

Oborn is particular about the milk he uses — it's not just any goat's milk. The company regularly buys milk from four goat dairies and from an additional few who provide supplemental milk as needed.

To ensure the quality of the milk and the end product, the milk must be kept particularly cold on the farms. Part of this requirement has to do with the fragile nature of goat's milk, Oborn says. The milk generally has the same amount of fat in it as a higher-fat cow's milk, but the fat globules are smaller in diameter. Goat's milk's enzymes also are more active and the protein is different from cow's milk, Oborn says.

Even though there are natural seasonal fluctuations in goat's milk composition that can make cheesemaking a challenge at times, Oborn contributes the overall quality of the milk the company receives to the farmers' handling of the dairies and the high quality feed, particularly alfalfa, that grows in Utah and southern Idaho.

The company, currently on a small site, plans to move one day into a bigger plant and also add its own dairy goat herd to produce additional milk for cheesemaking. Right now, though, Arbshay says he is satisfied with keeping some small family farms in business. The company is making roughly 100,000 pounds of cheese a year and growing as demand merits. The company currently is hoping to eventually bring production to about 300,000 pounds a year.

That will require familiarizing people with the Shepherds Dairy name and products. The company's products are considered high quality — chef Jonathan Perno of Salt Lake City's Metropolitan says he prefers Shepherd Dairy products over other goat's milk cheese — but the company started out so strong in the area of production quality that at first it didn't do a lot of marketing.

That changed when David Todd joined the team in May 2001. While the other four full-time staff members do their share to spread the word about Shepherds Dairy, it's Todd's full-time job to market the products.

Having a product that was completely developed has given him the opportunity to try a number of doors and get the cheese introduced in upscale restaurants throughout the West as well as in New York. The cheese also is now available at retail thanks to the addition of some distributors.

"I started out small, going to the high-end restaurants in Utah, then I picked up food distribution systems," Todd says.

"One of the things David has done well for us is asking the right questions of the right people. He talks to them about what they want and need," Oborn says.

And thanks to Todd's efforts to sell the product, Oborn has developed what is becoming an increasingly hot item for Shepherds Dairy: flavored Fetas.

"The flavored Feta was done for a particular customer," Todd says. "I pre-sold the cheese before I talked to Vaughn. Then he told me he couldn't do flavors."

Because Feta's curd is so fragile, Oborn wasn't sure he could make a quality flavored product. With the customer's challenge before him, though, he experimented until he developed a method of gently massaging the flavors into the curd as it goes into the hoops. The company's efforts were rewarded recently with the company's garlic and herb Feta garnering a third place award in the flavored cheeses/open category for goat's milk cheese in the American Cheese Society's annual competition.

"We bend over backwards," Todd adds, noting that the company is big enough to be flexible yet small enough to provide not only hand-crafted product but strong customer service.

Todd also knows how to ask for what he wants — and get it. Earlier this year, the company saw its product sales, especially sales of its Chevre in 4-pound tubs, jump tremendously in the months surrounding the Olympics.

"I told Sysco straight up I wanted the Olympics," Todd says. This involved offering a discount on the cheese which retails for $13-$18 per pound. Offering a discount can be difficult for a small cheese company which makes product from expensive goat's milk and already has narrow margins necessitated by subsidized specialty cheese competition from overseas. But the discount was worth it. The company's cheese flew out of the plant.

Todd expected Shepherds Dairy to sell 70 extra cases for the Olympics. Instead, the company sold about 100 extra cases a week.

"This went on for about two months," Todd says, noting that team chefs used the company's cheese while athletes trained and competed.

Todd doesn't know whether the boost of the Olympics will have a long-term effect on the company, but it did provide a boost to the company's bottom line for 2002. In addition, the company continues to see doors open as it attends trade shows and talks to more chefs. A recent trade show led to the company being approached by exporters who have heard about the company's products and are interested in exporting it to the Caribbean, Todd notes.

The most important marketing tool has been word of mouth, Oborn adds. Perno has given Shepherds Dairy names of people to talk to and, with more chefs hearing about the products and trying them, it's ever increasing the company's market presence.

Perno says the cheese costs less than some other top goat's milk cheese and that it has livelier characteristics.

"I think they're doing the right things," says Perno, noting that his biggest concern is that the company not grow so fast that it compromises product quality. Nevertheless, when a chef finds something good, he has to spread the word and share the wealth, Perno says.

A local chef with a television show also has included Shepherds Dairy cheese unsolicited on his program.

"It was on TV three times before we even knew about it," Todd says.

Even family members are spreading the word.

"The neighbor of my brother-in-law is a high-end distributor in Dallas," Todd says, explaining that he's been working with him as well.

"The thing I've been concentrating on is getting our name out," he adds. "It helps at stores when people ask for our cheese by name."

CMN