Wine & Cheese Festival in Ohrid Delivers Market Feedback for Traditional Macedonian Sheepherders
Macedonian sheepherders use traditional techniques to produce wonderful tasting feta and other sheep cheeses. Although cheese is one of their most profitable income sources, a majority of their production is sold from the farm gate to re-sellers. By going directly to the market, sheepherders can increase their sales and profits.
To help sheepherders realize a customer-focus, USAID created the first “Wine & Cheese Festival at the Old Tree” in the lakeside resort city of Ohrid. During the nine hours of selling over two evenings, the five sheepherder groups and five dairies that participated broke both volume and value forecasts, even though the average price was somewhat below the forecast. Several have reported repeat orders from new customers. Some are taking advantage of similar “direct to the market” opportunities based on the experience in Ohrid, and others are planning to move into export markets by attending food trade fairs.
Macedonia’s Challenge
From the beginning of its work with the Lamb & Cheese Cluster, USAID MCA has helped the large Macedonian cheese producers devise strategies to address sophisticated export markets. Based on MCA’s market research, the large producers decided to target markets in Greece, Albania and the United States and have already exported more than $125,000 worth of cheese (from a baseline of zero exports). Recently, MCA decided to supplement this work with programs focused at traditional cheese makers, the sheepherders.
Despite the importance of cheese production to family income, Macedonian sheepherders continue to sell their cheeses at the farm gate. They have little if any information about market prices for their products, generally accepting what is offered. And they cannot always sell their entire inventory before cheese-making time rolls around again.
To gain knowledge about the sheepherders’ situation, MCA’s Lamb & Cheese Cluster team spent considerable time at meetings across the Macedonian countryside, talking about markets and marketing. The team quickly learned that few sheepherders understood the potential to be gained by selling their products in different ways, in larger volumes and with increased profits. Like farmers the world over, they were reluctant to change.
To overcome the sheepherders’ perceived marketing weaknesses, MCA proposed an event where they could take their products directly to the market of a sizeable Macedonian city. MCA invited USAID Land O’ Lakes, which provides technical assistance to sheepherders’ associations and dairies, and the City of Ohrid to be partners in the event. The word “festival” was used to indicate an event aimed at the city’s tens of thousands of tourists.
MCA was aware that it needed to ensure the festival’s success if participants were to see the benefits of selling directly to the market and planned accordingly. Prior to the festival, MCA and LOL conducted a workshop to train participants in marketing, promotion and selling directly to consumers. The festival took place over the biggest holiday weekend in the country’s most popular summer vacation spot. One of Ohrid’s most popular and well-known sites was selected as the festival location, and a popular local band was selected for entertainment. A marketing campaign was launched prior to the festival. Wine tastings from local wineries were also added to increase the draw to the festival.
In all, 10 cheese sellers, eight wineries and a gift box maker (client of USAID Aid to Artisans) took part.
Results
The first Wine & Cheese Festival at the Old Tree in Ohrid was a success on all fronts. When the festival initiative was presented to USAID Macedonia for approval, results were forecasted – and most were exceeded despite actual prices being lower than predicted. In the nine hours of selling, the sheepherders sold nearly # tons of cheese. On both nights, several cheese sellers ran out of product. The wineries viewed the festival more as a tasting opportunity, a chance to get consumers to try their products. Three wineries each poured more than 1000 sample glasses. The eight wineries together sold over 1,650 bottles of wine.
Importantly, the sheepherders groups were happy with the outcome. They report that inventories of cheeses made from last year’s milk have been sold out and repeat orders are coming in. One dairy cannot keep up with demand from an unexpectedly large new customer and is adding new employees.
The area around the Old Tree was packed with people during the festival hours. Some 1300 took part in the drawings, a small percentage of the total that visited the stands, sampled the wines and cheeses, and took some home. One long-time Ohrid native summed up the event’s effect on the city: “I’ve never seen so many happy people here in my life.”
Next Steps
The festival at Old Tree was the first direct exposure that many sheepherders had to their end customers. In addition to providing them a marketing mechanism to sell down excess inventories at higher margins, the festival provided excellent contact to the market. The sheepherders groups want to repeat the festival in Ohrid. In addition, three other regional capitals in southern Macedonia want to hold their own festivals. The festival also provided sheepherders and dairies with the impetus to increase cheese production and to consider entering export markets via trade fairs. One dairy has already set its sights on the ANUGA food trade fair in Germany in 2005.
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