Columbus CEO June 2011 edition 05/19/2011

http://www.columbusceo.com/bizbuzz/article_6a511eb8-8245-11e0-96bd-0019bb30f31a.html

[Pre-edit version — print version available at link above]

At the headwaters of the Kokosing River in Mount Gilead, Ben and Lisa Sippel, with their son Charlie, make a healthy living as organic livestock and vegetable farmers. They are now growing their offerings through a second business venture, Ohio’s first licensed sheep dairy producing artisan sheep and cow’s milk cheeses.

KokoBorrego Cheese Company formally launched in March, and like the rest of their 77-acre Morrow County farm, it is aimed at feeding central Ohioans good, locally grown, organic food.

Even the company name is meant to evoke the local landscape and culture behind the food – Koko, for the Kokosing River and Borrego, the Spanish word for sheep. Spain is well known for artisan sheep cheese.

“Lisa and her brother [Ben Baldwin] have been making cheese and testing recipes for the past two years, in preparation for the startup,” says Ben Sippel. “Our smaller, family farm facilities lend itself to smaller livestock, like sheep, and we’re always looking for niche markets to fill, so with Lisa’s interest in cheese, it made sense.”

Diversification also will help provide the family with a more stable year-round income – cheese has a longer shelf life than produce and can be sold during all seasons.

“If you go to the farmers’ market with a truckload of vegetables and it rains, people don’t come. You’re going home with those vegetables; you don’t get a second chance,” Sippel says. “But with cheese, you can bring it back next week.”

The Sippels currently are the only licensed sheep dairy cheese manufacturer in Ohio, although an initiative by The Ohio State University aims to increase that. According to Sippel, there are only 100 or so licensed sheep dairies in the U.S., and only about three dozen produce sheep cheese.

“We currently sell mostly retail and have wholesale produce relationships with several local businesses, like Northstar [Café], Luna Burger and John Skaggs at Two Caterers,” says Sippel. “[Skaggs] was our first wholesale cheese sale; he used our products for the Chefs in the City event.”

The Sippel’s biggest problem right now is keeping up with demand – if you call that a problem.

Since spreading the word about the business, they have been inundated with inquiries. The first 120 pounds of cheese sold in a flash, and the Sippels are working to increase their current inventory of 2,000 pounds.

“Business decisions dictate what we make, with this demand and startup costs, we can’t use all of our aging space for cheese that has to cure a year or more,” says Sippel. The average cure time for the six cheeses currently offered by KokoBorrego is 90 days.

For more information, visit www.sippelfamilyfarm.com.