Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Family in southern town produces white cheese to offices, households By Nancy R. Cudis Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CHEESE-making is not the monopoly of the Europeans and a Cebuano family is out to prove that it can produce varieties that are as tasty as those of the French.
But since Cebuanos are not exactly known to be cheese lovers, the family that owns and runs Brix’s Cottage Cheese has decided to join an exhibit that showcases the best of Cebu, the Obra Negosyo Expo-Cebu Economic Enterprise Uplifting (One Cebu), a program initiated by the Provincial Government.
Sisters Yolanda Wagas, 52, and Estrella Georfo, 47, have put up a table that displays Brix’s Cottage Cheese products—home-made white cheese, like keso (hard cheese) and keseo (soft cheese), wrapped in banana leaf and placed in packs of three—inside the Cebu International Convention Center where One Cebu is held since Friday.
The sisters offer discounted prices at the One Cebu expo. Each pack of three is priced at P125, P25 less than the regular price. Each piece of keso or keseo is priced at P40, P10 less than regular prices.
While they maintain a small table at One Cebu, within a booth that sells fashion accessories, the sisters make sure they give every passersby huge smiles. Stressing the importance of good customer relations, they pointed out that they were able to make substantial sales since the expo opened.
Wagas and Georfo described their sales of more than 100 packs in three days as “promising,” especially for a first-time exhibitor like them.
Brix’s Cottage Cheese was founded by Yolanda’s husband, Brix, a former councilor of Compostela, in the 1980s. The family makes cheese from the milks of five carabaos.
At the start, the family sold cheese to neighbors only. But its market grew as word about the cheese traveled from mouth to mouth. Brix’s Cottage Cheese later began taking orders and making deliveries to government and private company offices in Cebu City.
Yolanda, a mother of five, believes that it is the taste of the family’s cheese that prompted customers to repeatedly order from them and recommend them to others.
Most of their clientèle, Georfo observed, belong to middle- and high-income households.
On regular days, the family would earn at least P500. In summer, the business’ peak season, the family’s daily production could hardly meet the high demand. When supply from their own carabaos is not enough, the family buys milk from other suppliers.
Wagas said the business has protected the family from most of the effects of rising prices of goods. After all, the business paid for the education of Brix and Yolanda’s children.
Yolanda said there is no substitute for hard work, patience and team work in making any business successful.
For now, though, the family has no plans to expand its facilities to maintain the prices of its products. The Wagases, however, are studying the feasibility of tapping supermarkets in malls to widen their market.
