Cheese Importers Warehouse plans retail expansion

LONGMONT — Cheese Importers Warehouse in Longmont began business more than 25 years ago by offering only three types of cheese. Today the company sells more than 500 cheeses, all types of condiments, oils and vinegars, hams and specialty products, and is out of space to store it all.

The company plans to expand its existing space with 7,000 more square feet in the next six months to accommodate its growing business.

The retail section, La Fromagerie, will double in space to 5,000 square feet so it can carry more products and provide extra space for seating, said Samm White, sales director of the family-owned business.

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The building at 33 S. Pratt Parkway in Longmont will grow from 12,000 square feet to a total of 19,000 square feet, adding more space for storage and the cheese cooler, he said.

White’s parents, Lyman and Linda White, founded the company in 1975. Today Lyman serves as president, directing purchasing, while Linda operates the retail store. Samm White’s sister Clara handles corporate sales.

Lyman and Linda White have a background in natural foods. They were helping run co-ops in California and New Mexico when they started the cheese import company. Since they had family in Wisconsin, they had handled cheese products along with beans and bulk items in the co-ops.

The privately held company has 28 employees, Samm White said. He declined to reveal annual revenues.

?The majority of our business is wholesale, about two-thirds of it. We sell to independent mom-and-pop stores and large groceries,? he said. Locally, the company sells product to Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage, Wild Oats and King Soopers.

?We sell bulk as well as prepackaged cheese, cut and packaged to order,? he said.

Along with domestic cheeses, the company imports cheese from Britain, France, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy and Russia.

?We have always done imported cheeses. Twenty years ago we purchased from importers on the East Coast,? he said. But today the company buys directly from European cheese producers.

In recent years, the focus in the cheese industry is toward small family-operated farms and goat dairies. ?These are small cheese makers. They’re small family farms that represent the biggest growth in the industry,? he said.

?As a family-run business ourselves, that’s where our focus is and has been for some time,? Samm White said.

In the past, small producers only sold locally and in nearby farmers markets. ?Now we introduce them to the mass market,? he said.

?California is getting a plethora of cheese makers, and we’re on board with them to get in touch with those producers who have no exposure to get them to the Colorado market,? he said.

In the future, the company’s focus will be on a ?fresh-cut program.? Instead of cutting cheese at the producer’s site and letting it sit in a warehouse for two to three months, the company is starting to do more cut-on-demand. It offers freshly wrapped cheese with a much longer shelf life. Generally, the fresh-cut cheese is cut at its peak freshness about a day or two before delivery to stores, he said.

?Stores can’t cut it themselves because it’s not economical,? he said.

At La Fromagerie, the company features a deli selling fresh sandwiches. Cooks there also produce quiche, chicken shish kebab and other specialties. ?It’s already prepared so people can come in and eat,? he said.

The company also sells cheese and gift baskets through its Web site at www.cheeseimporters.com.

White, 28, and his sister began working in the business as children. ?I remember getting a dollar a day to sweep under the pallets,? White said. ?Clara was a salesperson as of 16.?

The company offers airfreight shipping throughout the country. ?This is our back yard so that’s where most of our focus and energy are on,? he said.