Andre Farm, a cheesemaker based in Tartu County, has stopped selling its cheese through most major retail chains, saying the retail sales system has become too costly.
In a social media post published in mid-June, the farm said it had decided to end this sales model because it wanted to move away from what it described as an overly expensive retail system.
“We simply don’t want to be ground down between the gears of a large system. The system itself wasn’t complicated, but it had simply become too expensive for us,” the company wrote.
Andre Farm owner Erika Koroleva told business daily Aripaev that if the farm wanted to continue using its previous sales model, it would have to raise the price of its cheese. She said retail sales involved multiple intermediary costs, which would drive the final price to consumers to an unreasonably high level.
According to Aripaev, the change in sales channels has also reduced the company’s production volume. Andre Farm previously produced between six and eight metric tons of cheese per month. It now produces about three metric tons monthly.
“Given my own level of laziness, the reality is that we can produce and sell half as much this way. Total profit and revenue naturally decline, but profitability – or simply the overall viability of production – remains at the same level,” Koroleva told Aripaev.
The cheesemaker said its products would now be available through select stores, restaurants, farmers’ markets, the farm’s own shop and its online store.
Andre Farm’s cheeses have received several international awards and have also been named Estonia’s best cheese. (ERR)