SAN DIEGO — For a number of years, Cantaré Foods has been in the difficult position of not being able to grow its fresh Italian cheese business. Customer demand hasn’t been the problem — lack of space to meet increasing customer demand has. However, all that is changing now as the company nears completion of a new 72,000-square-foot facility that will house all of its production lines.

Cantaré produces a wide range of artisan foods including handcrafted fresh Italian cheeses, Baked Brie en Croute and olive-based tapenades.

The company was founded in 1992 by 35-year cheese industry veteran Robert Fischer, who today is Cantaré’s chairman. His vision was to conceive and bring to market foods that would satisfy a growing consumer appetite for exciting, high-quality authentic products at an affordable price.

The company is unique in that it produces such a wide array of products, says Fischer’s son, Olivier Fischer-Morelle, who is company CEO.

This sets Cantaré apart from others and allows it to be on the cutting edge of providing customers with innovative, value-added products.

“Innovation is what we’re all about,” Fischer-Morelle says. “We’re all about providing a product for the consumer that is healthy for you and sparks excitement.”

Being unique doesn’t necessarily mean a product is good, though. Both father and son say what makes Cantaré’s products stand out from others is their quality.

For example, Fischer explains that while many companies make fresh Mozzarella, many U.S. companies stretch curd made by other companies and few focus on making fresh Mozzarella from scratch. Cantaré also sets itself apart from those that do make their own Mozzarella: Five years ago, Fischer began working on making a fresh Mozzarella that was different than others.

“We knew that there was a huge potential if somebody could make the product right,” he says. “We decided that was our next venture.”

In the United States, fresh Mozzarella is generally made using an acidifier, commonly vinegar or lemon juice. That doesn’t allow for a milky taste and leaves a strong cheese flavor, which isn’t what fresh Mozzarella should take like, Fischer says.

“Fresh Mozzarella should taste like drinking a glass of milk,” he explains.

Thus, Fischer and his team headed by Christophe Megevand, company COO, developed a fresh Mozzarella made with lactic acid, a natural milk by-product, which retains the moisture and preserves the taste and texture of the cheese. The patent-pending cheese process uses 70 percent less rennet than more typical fresh Mozzarellas, and has a 40-day shelf life.

The company also produces Mascarpone and Ricotta Fresca as well as Burrata, made with fresh Mozzarella and a Mascarpone-based center.

Burrata received a gold medal in the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest in 2003 and a first place award in the 2005 American Cheese Society (ACS) competition.

Most recently, the company’s Mozzarella took first in the 2006 ACS competition in the “Italian-type cheeses: Mozzarella types, all milks” class.

Cantaré also is particularly known for its award-winning line of Baked Brie en Croute products. Here, warm Brie cheese is delicately wrapped in a French brioche dough available in plain or a variety of natural, preservative-free fillings. Pre-cooked and easy to heat, they can be served as hors d’oeuvres, entrees or desserts. In addition, the company offers other bakery items including Briochette, its recently-introduced individual, bite-sized snacks combining the flavors of milk chocolate and hazelnut with flaky brioche dough.

The third pillar of the company is its fresh salad division, which includes tapenades and salsa made with premium imported olives. The company also offers marinated salads made with its fresh Mozzarella. The salads come in two varieties: Antipasto and Marinated Mozzarella.

Presently, the cheese, bakery and fresh salad segments all represent about equal thirds of the business, Fischer-Morelle says. Most customers take Cantaré’s entire line because the products work so well together, he adds.

The company’s cheese primarily is available on the West Coast, but its other products have national distribution. About 90 percent of the business is branded, with the other 10 percent being private label.

During the past few years, Cantaré’s product line ­— and demand for its products — has grown rapidly, Fischer-Morelle says. The company has been limited, though, by its two existing facilities totaling 28,000 square feet in San Diego and Baldwin Park, Calif.

“We have tried to make sure we had a high level of customer satisfaction ... but it has been difficult to service our customers like we would like to,” Fischer-Morelle says.

The company will be under one roof at the end of this summer; production at the new facility is scheduled to begin in August.

The expansion will allow Cantaré to expand in many areas including the volume of its current products as well as additional new products. The new space will allow the company to grow tenfold. The company plans to keep its Baldwin Park, Calif., facility as a distribution point due to its proximity to Los Angeles.

One area that Fischer-Morelle sees growing for the company is foodservice. Currently, foodservice accounts for about 20 percent of Cantaré’s business, but Fischer-Morelle says he believes that could easily grow to about 50 percent.

“Our products make sense for foodservice, and it’s a growth area for us,” he says. “We’ve been limited in the past because of space.”

With significant new capacity available, Cantaré will be turning its attention to letting people know about its capabilities and growing its customer base. To that end, Bob Constantino, who previously was president and CEO of Rondelé Specialty Foods, has joined Cantaré as executive vice president. Not coincidently, Fischer helped start Rondelé in the 1970s and has worked with Constantino in the past. Both father and son highly praise Constantino and say he will bring great things to Cantaré.

“Bob has done some amazing things in the industry, and he is going to spearhead and drive our growth in the next few years,” Fischer-Morelle says. “Bob will make a big impact.”

The company also plans to introduce new products that complement its existing offerings.

“We will be taking the base of what we do and offering more items,” Fischer-Morelle says. “We want to innovate and come up with fresh ideas.”

Fischer-Morelle notes that Cantaré means “to sing” in Italian. He says the company is proud of its products, and its vision is to create products that make people happy and excited and help them enjoy life.

“We are passionate cheesemakers and food makers, and we want to convey that excitement to the public,” he says.

CMN