Say “Cheese” – and the tourists flock in

It is easier to sell a product, if you show potential customers how you make it.
Car manufacturers that operate in see-through buildings, tours around large companies and open days in kitchens and bakeries show a trend towards transparent manufacturing.
How can farmers profit, get more customers and by doing so increase their direct sales? Apart from a farm shop or an open day you can show your customers how the products are made and sell them directly afterwards. One good example is cheese-making demonstrations.

Not many big farms process their own milk. But if there are no binding contracts with dairies there is the possibility of selling some of the produced milk in the form of other products. And those products are made with the help of other producers. The best-practise-business-Blog has brought this matter to our attention. A quick look at google shows you that there are at least three more milk-making demonstration businesses in Germany that market themselves as tourist attractions.

This is how the Schaukäserei im Ettal works. More than 35 farmers have come together in a cooperative to have their milk made into cheese and sold. They command a milk price that is higher than normal and also gain from the sales of the cheese. And so they are more independent than the big dairy companies. Big farms in eastern Germany have also come together – but they have not yet tried making cheese. Existing cheese-making companies in eastern Germany keep a lid on their production. But in Brandenburg 100 organic dairy farms have joined in a cooperative to build a see-through dairy.

Of course even with the big companies you can’t just make your own cheese and sell it directly in your own farm shop. It needs a lot of planning and investment.

Such a project is only viable if partners work together. The cheese-making factory in Ettal was specially built by the farmers for tourists. The plan worked and now they and other “cheese-making demonstration companies” are reaching enough customers to make it a success. What do you think about „transparent production“ especially when it comes to farming? Do you know any other projects apart from cheese making? We look forward to your comments