November 13, 2009
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SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE — Wiscon Corp. recently opened its second market. In addition to nearly 1,000 types of cheeses, it offers fresh homemade sausage, deli meats, salads and sandwiches, and dry grocery items such as pasta, spices and oils.

By Kate Sander

MELROSE PARK, Ill. — There’s nothing like a good cheese shop to get someone excited about cheese. The atmosphere, the aroma, the flavor … even a cheese tasting novice can’t help but be inspired to sample — and hopefully buy — a morsel or two, especially when the shop is staffed by knowledgeable cheese enthusiasts.

One such enthusiast is Natale Caputo, president of Wiscon Corp., which just opened its second cheese shop. Wiscon Corp. may be best known as a family-owned cheese manufacturing and processing company, but it’s now also putting its name on the map as the owner and operator of cheese markets in Illinois.

The company has operated its first Caputo Cheese Market adjacent to its plant in Melrose Park, Ill., for almost 15 years, but this fall it opened its second market, this one in Lake Forest, Ill. The new market offers nearly 1,000 types of cheeses from all over the globe including fresh Mozzarella made on site, as well as a number of other foods to round out its offerings — fresh homemade sausage; deli meats, salads and sandwiches; and dry grocery items such as pasta, spices and oils.

“It’s very exciting to bring our passion for cheese to Lake Forest,” Caputo says. “With such a variety of unique cheeses from all over the world, there’s something here for everyone.”

The new Caputo Cheese Market is located in what used to be a small coffee shop known as Moncafe at 231 E. Wisconsin Avenue. While coffee still is served there, the store has been expanded significantly in size and selection.

Caputo is excited about all of the possibilities that lie ahead with the cheese market, which was designed to have a somewhat European feel. He describes the store as higher end — the atmosphere is upscale and the sales people wear chef’s jackets — but not “hoity-toity.”

Not only does the shop give the company a way to showcase its own award-winning Caputo Fresh Mozzarella and other Italian cheeses, the store also gives the company the opportunity to highlight cheeses from around the globe and particularly those made in the company’s own backyard.

“We offer some of the best cheeses made,” Caputo says, noting that he and his staff went through the entire list of winners from the most recent American Cheese Society contest, scouting out cheeses the store didn’t already carry.

“We’d like to have as many domestic cheeses as possible to let the domestic cheesemakers be known,” Caputo says.

To that end, Caputo is putting a call out to any specialty cheesemakers who are interested in having their cheeses showcased in the market. In this case, the more, the better.

“I want to be the guy who has it all,” he adds. In fact, sometimes the biggest problem he runs into with award winners is that production of some of these cheeses is so limited there isn’t enough to meet demand.

The Lake Forest store opened in August, with an official grand opening late last month. Despite the store opening during a period of lean financial times for many consumers, Caputo says the first few months of operation have gone remarkably well.

“The reception has been great. The response has been better than expected,” Caputo says.

In general, consumers are becoming more educated and aware of high-end cheeses, which drives sales, he notes. The store’s staff also strives to educate.

“We offer tastings of any cheese,” he says, even if it’s an expensive imported Gouda with truffles. The samples, he says, go a long way in helping consumers become comfortable with buying a small, affordable indulgence.

In many ways, the new Caputo Cheese Market — and the company’s plans to open more similar stores — brings the company back to its roots. Founded by Caputo’s parents, Pasquale and René Caputo, in 1978, Wiscon Corp. began as a small retail cheese shop with imported cheeses.

As the Caputos quickly became known for their quality products and excellent service, they soon began offering processed and blended Italian cheeses to food distributors and manufacturers. The product line gradually expanded to include other high-quality cheeses as well as oils, vinegars, spices and pastas. Today the company operates four facilities, including two distribution facilities, and encompasses numerous divisions: Caputo Cheese Boston, Caputo Cheese San Francisco, Caputo Food Service, Wisconsin Cheese and, of course, Caputo Cheese Market.

The first Caputo Cheese Market closed during the 1980s as Pasquale Caputo steered the business toward foodservice distribution, but it reopened in 1995 because people kept coming to the plant, asking for cheese. It wasn’t a very efficient use of time or energy to be pulling random amounts of cheese off the line; hence, the reopening of the store, Caputo says.

Today Wiscon Corp., with about 90 employees at its Melrose Park, Ill., facility, processes about 135,000 pounds of cheese daily and has annual sales of more than $50 million. While the company produces a small amount of cheese, the majority of its business is in shredding, grating and blending. The most common sizes the company sells are 5-pound bags and 50-pound boxes, but it also offers some 8-ounce and 1-pound retail packages which are sold primarily in Chicagoland.

Caputo sees the processing business continuing to grow at a steady pace, with the company aiming for conservative, consistent growth.

He sees much more potential for significant business growth over the next five years on the retail side. Currently he is scouting out locations for the next two Caputo Cheese Markets the company plans to open in the next couple of years. There are initial plans for more to follow after that.

Currently, the new market employs about 50 people and is open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. As company president, Caputo splits his time between the markets and the processing end of the business. His sister, Trina, also is involved on the retail side of the business.

“Cheese is our passion,” Caputo says of his family.

Opening new enterprises in today’s financial climate isn’t necessarily easy, but Caputo says that opening the stores was an idea that he just couldn’t ignore. He says the company is committed to the stores and sees them as a life-long investment, not only for the benefit of the company but for the industry at large.

“We love this stuff,” he says. “We’re excited about the stores and dedicated to the industry.”

CMN