Author Topic: shipping cheese  (Read 1108 times)

Offline steffb503

  • Catskill Mts, NY State, USA
  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 595
  • Cheeses: 11
    • M & S Farm
shipping cheese
« on: May 17, 2013, 10:15:06 AM »
I have a license to sell cheese and do. Mostly to my milk customers here on the farm and at the local farmer's market.
But I have so much milk and a cave "Full" of hard cheese that I plan to expand into some stores.
I have a few questions.
I live in an area where very few folks will buy upscale food products in the stores. The reason the market does well is w have a very large weekend visiting population from NYC.
I do have a few store within an hour from me so those are the ones I am targeting, including Whole Foods. I have spoken to them and they are very interested.
I could deliver once a week or ship. Shipping while much easier seems to be very cost prohibitive.
Any thoughts?

Offline Tiarella

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Chester, MA, US
  • Posts: 1,748
  • Cheeses: 81
  • Default personal text
    • Farm Blog
Re: shipping cheese
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2013, 10:46:12 AM »
Can't offer you shipping advice but would you be willing to share a few photos of your cheese cave?   :)  Thanks, Kathrin

Sailor Con Queso

  • Guest
Re: shipping cheese
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2013, 01:31:39 PM »
I ship Priority Mail all over the country with no problems. There are insulated shipping bags and ice packs that work very well.

jwalker

  • Guest
Re: shipping cheese
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2013, 01:52:58 PM »
If the stores you would be delivering to are an hour away , I would have a small van with a four cylinder engine.

My Dodge minivan 3 litre engine got about 35 mpg , so assuming an hours dive is about 50-60 miles , you could go there and back on about 4 gallons or less , probably much cheaper than paying a carrier.

Although you would have to figure in the cost of the vehicle and your time spent delivering.

But if it were to work into more sales eventually it would be well worth it , and you would be sure your product was delivered properly and on time.

It's also nice as a small business owner to establish personal contact with your buyers on a regular basis , and delivering yourself , gives you a chance to sell your product at other stores along the way.

You would have to sell enough to make it worthwhile though , but you have to start somewhere.

As a small business owner myself , that's how I would do it.

Cheers , Jim.

Offline steffb503

  • Catskill Mts, NY State, USA
  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 595
  • Cheeses: 11
    • M & S Farm
Re: shipping cheese
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2013, 06:36:13 PM »
@ jwalker--I was hoping to deliver to more than one store maybe in a loop. I have family in that area so not a total loss. I agree the face to face contact is a good thing.
Also the stores I am looking at, except Whole foods, are small and the very costly shipping fees would make the product too expensive.

@Sailor-- are the bags sturdy enough? I was thinking cardboard box with foam insert and ice pack. But it would run $15 just for the materials not counting the shipping itself.


@Tiarella-- I use a freezerless fridge with an external thermometer. Sorry I can't post pics I am on dial up but I can email them to you.