Finding a company that speaks to quality and tradition is something both retailers and consumers want. Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese brings generational knowledge and technological advancements to its operations, offering buy-side partners a company that knows when to employ new innovations to its advantage.
“In terms of technology in our business, Crave Brothers Farm and Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese have been implementing more machines to increase efficiency and automation,” remarked Roseanne Crave, Marketing and Sales Manager. “This includes our 60-cow rotary milking parlor on the farm allowing for shorter milking shifts for our workers and cows. Just across the road Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese has added new packaging machines such as our ‘octopus sealer’ to create a swift and accurate process for our packaging team. Crave Brothers has other plans to automate within our plant walls as we continue to build our buyer base.”
Outside of its innovations, Crave Brothers has a variety of qualities to offer to the buy-side. Over the years, the company has solidified itself in the market as a customer favorite due to its values, practices, and caliber of product.
“Consumer trends come and go, and as dairy farmers and producers, we stay true to our values rather than try to fit every trend in the market. We highlight our story, which allows for our brand to continue to gain brand recognition across the market,” Roseanne added. “This includes being a family business, farmstead, award-winning, and paying a lot of attention to the quality of our milk and cheese.”
In addition to staying true to its values while entering the market, the cheesemaker also focuses on its packaging.
“Our packaging is recyclable and highlights our focus on sustainability through logos and messaging that is easy for consumers to understand and recognize,” Roseanne noted.
In addition, Crave Brothers works diligently to adhere to sustainability programs.
“We have two anaerobic methane digesters which process our cow’s manure and waste from the cheese plant used to generate renewable energy. We produce enough electricity to power our cheese factory, farm, and over 300 area homes in our community,” Roseanne told me, a feat that is remarkable all by itself. “Additionally, the digester produces co-products such as high organic liquid fertilizer for our fields, dry odorless fibers used for comfortable cattle bedding, and heat for our buildings.”
Roseanne commented that Crave Brothers began as dairy farmers, and the company is well aware that its first responsibility is to the land.
“We practice cover crops, crop rotation, and other regenerative agricultural practices to maintain healthy, productive soil. Because of these transparent programs we use daily, it helps grow our brand as consumers are demanding sustainability and accountability from the producers of their everyday foods. We didn’t know this when we installed our digester systems 15 years ago, we just knew it was the right thing to do,” she concluded.
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