Cheese is an extremely necessary product in the Russian market. Demand for it is constantly growing every year. And this means that a private cheese factory with the appropriate organization of the company will become a fairly profitable business. It is only necessary to take into account a number of nuances.
First thing
First you need to create the tactics of the future company. To do this, you will need to develop a detailed business plan for the cheese factory. It must be remembered that a rough start is not a guarantee of success.
This business plan first addresses the following issues:
- search for milk suppliers;
- financial settlements;
- choice of strategy in marketing.
registration
When asked a question about where to start a business from scratch, it will be necessary to keep in mind that the future enterprise must be registered. Otherwise, very soon the company begins to have problems with the tax authorities.
You can register a private cheese factory as an LLC or an individual entrepreneur. In this plan, the LLC form will be considered. In the case of an individual entrepreneur, it will be necessary to bear responsibility for the company with his personal property. The company will apply a simplified taxation system in which the tax rate is from 5%.
In the future, you will need a certificate for cheese, a sanitary-epidemiological report, licenses and other documentation permitting the opening of your enterprise.
Market research
Before you open a cheese factory, you will definitely need to find your niche, within which you can get the appropriate income. To do this, you can invite a marketing specialist or do it yourself. Necessary:
- explore the work of future competitors;
- analyze all your products;
- set a price;
- learn about the level of solvency of the population.
Research will help to identify which varieties of the product are not enough, how high the demand for them at the moment. Subject to international standards, such a product is classified according to three main features:
- depending on maturity;
- depending on the proportion of moisture;
- depending on the proportion of fat in terms of dry weight.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the average Russian eats 6.4 kg of cheese per year. While the consumption rate per person is 6.5 kg per year.
In Russia, subject to sanctions, the largest market share belongs to Belarus. Currently, the market in the Russian Federation is 90% filled with domestic goods.
The most popular in this country are the following varieties, arranged in descending order: Russian, Dutch, Poshekhonsky, Gouda, Edam. The interest of Russians is growing in exotic products, sheep and goat cheese.
The type of equipment, for example, ripening chambers that you will need to buy or rent, depends on the variety that you decide to make. Equipment and tools are not cheap. About it below.
Choice of premises
The room for the production of this dairy product does not have to be huge. For starters, you can take a building with an area of about 30 square meters. It is important that all communications are carried out in it - water, ventilation, heating. Need and sewer.
There are general requirements for rooms in which food production is established: tiles on the walls, windows for natural lighting are required. Furniture should be made of metal or plastic.
You can equip a cheese factory for home cheese making with your own hands, and in case of rent you need to pay attention to the mandatory competent conclusion of the contract. Otherwise, problems with the law will begin fairly quickly. To avoid them, it is recommended to consult with a lawyer.
This calculation takes into account that the business owner will buy the premises and restore it so that it is suitable for a cheese dairy for home cheese making. The approximate cost of repairing the building is 200,000 rubles. For the organization of production, a building with an area of 120 square meters is suitable. The purchase price is about 650,000 rubles. This amount includes the sale of an adjoining plot of 20 hectares.
Equipment
Among the products for cheese making, equipment for:
- grain formation and mass;
- Ambassador.
Refrigerators are also installed in places of ripening and storage. Need a few auxiliary devices: a 50-liter steel tank, shelves, tables, filters and so on.
You can purchase a ready-made assembly for the production of the product and install it in the prepared room. Assemblies have different performance. For example, they can process 120 or 500 liters of milk per day.
The production specialist will determine the entire production cycle, which is different for different types of product. Any innovation can simply ruin the cheese. As a result, there will be no demand for it.
It is important to remember that manufacturing equipment does not have to be the cheapest. It must be of very high quality. Why? The quality of future cheese directly depends on it. Before opening a cheese factory, it is recommended to purchase equipment from Italy. After all, this is the birthplace of cheese.
The following devices are planned for the production of the product. Firstly, it is equipment for the reception, cleaning, metering and storage of milk:
- set for rough milk cleaning - 77 500;
- a pump for pumping milk ONK-1.5 / 15K5-0.55 / 2 - 34,000;
- pump starter - 3500;
- rod weight VSP-1000 - 47 000;
- a milk storage tank VTM-0.3 - 175,000;
- control panel for TMV-0.3 - 26,000.
Prices are in Russian rubles.
Secondly, it is equipment for the production of:
- centrifugal pump -1,5 / 15K5-0,55 / 2 - 34 000;
- mini-cheese factory for the home - 186 000;
- capacity with forms - 97 540;
- molds for self-pressing (40 pieces) - 17,200.
Thus, equipment for the production of such a dairy product will cost 737,400 rubles (including VAT). Plumbing work costs 150,000. In addition, the creator of the project will need to purchase two refrigerators. The total cost of the devices, including delivery - 205 000 rubles. To deliver finished products, you need to purchase a Gazelle truck worth 700,000.
Raw materials
For the production of various varieties of goods used milk of cows, goats, sheep. In the business plan of the dairy industry, along with calculations, you must immediately indicate the suppliers of this raw material and their average prices in annual terms.
In agriculture, the easiest way to get everything for cheese making is to have your own herd of cows, sheep or goats. But you can buy the freshest raw materials from individuals, farms, large enterprises of the dairy industry.
Of course, the best option is your own herd. In this case, raw materials are much cheaper, and the products themselves are completely free from additional margins, so you can sell other goods. In this calculation, it is assumed that everything for cheese making is bought from local farms at a price of 25 rubles per 1 liter.
Production technology
It includes the following stages:
- Adding milk to cheese equipment.
- Cooling raw materials and adding acids.
- Adding an enzyme diluted in water so that the milk turns into a thick mass.
- Cutting hardened clot.
- Separation of grain from whey in a special bath.
- Putting the product in saline.
- Product ripening in a special chamber.
Hard varieties have the longest ripening stage. This can take up to several months. Hard cheese sometimes ripens from a few months to a year.
Employee selection
In the case of a small dairy, several employees are required - no more than three. It should be borne in mind that in order to get good goods, you will definitely need to comply with cheese production technology. So, before you open a cheese factory and hire employees, you need to carefully check their education, skills and experience in this industry. The technologist will become the main figure, the core of this business. He knows all the subtleties of cooking popular and elite varieties, he can come up with an author's product. Much depends on the right choice of this employee.
Selling manufactured products with maximum benefits will fall on the shoulders of the project initiator. In the future, thanks to the creation of an efficient economy, it will be possible to open a small company store.
So, before you open a cheese factory, first of all, you need a production operator. It is also worth hiring a handyman to maintain the premises in good condition. Cooking cheese according to the instructions will be able to 3-4 untrained people. They will control the placement of the product in the cheese ripening chambers. At this, the staff at the initial stage is exhausted.
Sales
In Italy, which is a model for many Russian novices as well as for experienced cheese manufacturers, the production and sale of this product has been going on for centuries from generation to generation. Each family had its own secret of its manufacture.
The entire production and marketing cycle is carried out within a specific family. These are maintaining a dairy herd, milking cows, curdling milk, molding, pressing and ambassador. All ordinances are performed by family members. The sale is at the family farm store.
In Russia, manufacturers in this area work differently. They supply the product for catering, for retail chains, urban, wholesale and retail, or find resellers to sell their goods in food markets and so on.
Both ordinary and elite types are delivered to restaurants and outlets, depending on the level of the company that provides catering services. In today's Russia, there are few people who sell these products through their stores. The culture of production of this dairy product is not developed: no one has centuries-old own brands.
When thinking about how to open a cheese factory, it is important to understand that there will be no result right away. Consumers should get used to a new product, try it, bring it to their friends and acquaintances. It takes time. It’s worth starting with small parties, gradually increasing them, and only then you can start thinking about a branded outlet.
To promote the business will need to organize advertising. You will need your own website, pages on social networks, contextual advertising, e-mail newsletters, sometimes, ads on local television, radio, the press, discounts, promotions and so on will do. Tastings are recommended.
It will be possible to place an automatic cheese factory in a room where there is enough space over time to start producing many new varieties of the product.
Market entry
Upon entering the new production market during the first two months, advertising will be aimed at creating a positive image and positioning it in accordance with the established format. Finished cheese products will be transported by the company's own transport.
The monthly budget for an advertising company will be 30,000 rubles and will include:
- advertising in the local press;
- distribution of printed booklets;
- online advertising.
It is necessary to pursue a flexible pricing policy that will make products available to virtually any member of the population. Demand in this area is for elite varieties, and for the simplest and cheapest.
Prospects
Cheese production is a promising area. Demand always remains high. The offer is not fully completed. At the same time, the cost of producing the product is small. However, the difficulty lies in obtaining documentation. Also expensive is the equipment itself.
The potential market capacity is 10 times greater than the current volume of production. It should be noted that cheeses are popular among absolutely all segments of the population. The peculiarities of national cuisine in Russia made it a virtually indispensable component for many dishes. It is added to salads, eaten with wine, in restaurants many menu items are associated with cheese products.
At the same time, you need to consider that it does not apply to high-margin products. The costs of its production will be significant, and the margin high will not work. However, when creating a unique product, it will be possible to correct this drawback somewhat, especially in the case of elite varieties.
The Russians believe that the choice of cheese products in stores is too small since 2014. The country stopped exporting from EU countries, the USA and Canada. Imports of cheese from Europe were somewhat balanced by products from Belarus, Serbia and Armenia. Recently, many products of Belarusian manufacturers have appeared.
At the same time, domestic producers and importers did not have time to replace the supply of elite European varieties, in particular, Swiss cheese. For this reason, this industry is considered a very promising area. The revenue and profits of manufacturers of this category of goods are constantly growing.
Additional recommendations
The cheapest manufacturer of equipment for the production of cheese, of course, is considered domestic. Equipment that produces 35 kg of cheese per 8-hour shift will cost 350 thousand rubles.
It is believed that the most expensive conveyors of Italian production: the cost starts from 1 million rubles, but the quality is not a fact that will be significantly higher than domestic counterparts.
Most major suppliers are ready to provide loans and leasing on favorable terms, and also offer free related services: equipment installation, its setup, staff training and maintenance. So when buying a technological base, an entrepreneur should not have problems. The quality of the equipment directly affects the result of the final product.
The cheese factory, equipped with modern technologies, is fully automated and does not need a large amount of work. 3-5 people are enough, among which:
- chief technologist with work experience;
- assistant technologist;
- Head of Advertising
- handyman.
Also, in every enterprise in which there is interaction with money, an accountant is required. Initially, the services of an accountant can be used in outsourcing: to connect a person to remote work. This maneuver can reduce monthly expenses.
And if the functions of a marketing manager are assigned to the owner of the enterprise, it will be possible to delete another employee from the list. The choice of a supplier of raw materials, dairy products also largely determines the quality of the final product.
From 10 liters of milk, 1 kg of cheese is obtained. Therefore, if you plan to get 35 kg of the finished product in a shift of 8 hours, you need to find a supplier who could supply 350 liters of raw materials at wholesale prices daily. The price of cheese will depend on the contract with him as well.
First of all, pay attention to:
- regional farms containing sheep, cows and goats;
- individual farms
- the ability to create your own herd.
For greater reliability, it is necessary to competently conclude an agreement with suppliers, where the conditions, quantity and amount of orders will be clearly defined. It may require a lawyer, and this is also worth considering.