In order to open a successful cheese production enterprise, it is not necessary to build large production premises and invest tens of millions of rubles. Possibilities modern equipment allow you to open a turnkey mini-cheese factory on minimal space and with minimal investment, not exceeding one million rubles. Let's take Italy for example. Most cheese factories in Italy are small farm complexes that keep their own livestock of up to 100 heads, a mini-dairy shop and a shop during production.

Cheese production is beneficial for those who already have their own farming on the content of dairy cattle. It turns out that we are opening the processing of our own milk, and accordingly, we will receive more competitive final products, in this case, cheese.

Although it is possible for novice entrepreneurs who do not own their own farm to open a mini-cheese factory. The main task will find inexpensive raw materials: milk. The required volume of daily supply is only 500 - 1500 liters per day. This volume can be provided by one or two farms in your region.

We start with sales...

Planning any business in the manufacturing sector begins with searching for channels for selling products. First we must think about who we will sell the cheese to, and only then where and on what equipment to produce it. Selling a quality product will not be difficult if there is a large city nearby and your prices will not be higher than those on the market. There are several implementation options hard cheese:

• wholesale resellers;
• through your own store;
• through food markets;
• outbound trade from a mobile shop;
• through wholesale supplies to small retail grocery stores;
• through intracity retail chains(you won’t get into federal networks with small volumes);
• supply to canteens, cafes and restaurants.

Don't be lazy to study domestic market, visit all possible enterprises, offer them options for future cooperation.

Business registration

The organizational form of a small cheese production can be an ordinary individual entrepreneurship. Although very often manufacturing enterprises choose the LLC form, that is, a legal entity. The fact is that with LLC status it is easier to sell your products, since a legal entity is trusted more than an individual, which is individual entrepreneur. The simplified tax system is most often chosen as a taxation system: 6% of revenue or 15% of profit.

Room

To organize the production of cheese in small volumes (up to 100 kg of cheese per day), a room with an area of ​​20 square meters is suitable. m. These are small areas that can be allocated in any farm or rented a separate room, the rent of which will cost about 30-50 thousand rubles per month. Equipment for a mini-cheese factory is quite compact in size. The height is no more than 90 cm, and the diameter is no more than 70 cm.

Basic requirements for the premises: availability of hot and cold water supply, heating, ventilation and sewerage systems. Otherwise, the same requirements apply to cheese factories as to other food production: the presence of natural light (no basements!), furniture only made of plastic or metal, the presence of fire safety equipment - fire extinguishers and fire shields. The walls should be covered with tiles up to a height of 2.5 m, and the rest should be painted with non-toxic paint.

Equipment for cheese factory

The complete set of any cheese factory consists of the main and auxiliary equipment. The main equipment is a stainless steel container with a volume of 50 liters or more. The container can be heated using a heating element, gas, circulation of hot water or steam. Cooling occurs due to the circulation of cold tap water. Additional equipment includes racks, press tables, maturation chambers, cheese molds, milk coolers and filters, salting basins, etc.

The best suppliers of equipment for cheese factories are Italian manufacturers. For example, Sfoggiatech supplies turnkey mini-cheese factories for the production of semi-hard cheese. You can purchase a set for 120 liters and 360 liters. A 120-liter mini-cheese factory can process up to 500 liters of milk per day, and a 360-liter unit can process up to 1,200 liters per day. The processed milk can be goat, cow, sheep, etc. This cheese factory is ideal for small farms, restaurants and supermarkets.

There are also good cheese producers in Russia. For example, the company PC MOLEXPERT LLC. They produce cheese factories under the “Cheese-Master 150” brand. The quality of their equipment is at a fairly high level, and the prices are much cheaper than their Italian counterparts.

Thus, a cheese factory with a capacity of 70 to 1000 liters of milk per day will cost from 150 thousand rubles. From 100 liters of milk using this equipment you can get:

• 7-9 kg of hard cheese;
• 5-6 kg of sour cream (fat content 20%);
• 13-15 kg of soft cheese;
• 6-7 kg of sour cream (fat content 20%);
• 100 liters of various drinking products: kefir and snowball, yogurt and fermented baked milk, Varenets and ayran, tan, etc.

Business plan for organizing a mini-cheese factory with a production volume of 100 kg of hard cheese per day.

Capital investments:

• purchase of a turnkey Cheese-Master 150 mini-cheese factory + delivery and installation - 300 thousand rubles;
• preparation of premises (repairs) – 200 thousand rubles;
• personnel training – 30 thousand rubles;
• organizational expenses (including business registration) – 50 thousand rubles;
• other expenses – 50 thousand rubles.

TOTAL: 630 thousand rubles.

Fixed monthly expenses:

• rental of premises (50 sq. m.) – 30 thousand rubles;
• salary + insurance contributions (4 people) – 80 thousand rubles;
• utility costs - 30 thousand rubles;
• advertising – 20 thousand rubles;
• other expenses – 50 thousand rubles.

TOTAL: 210 thousand rubles.

• production volume per month (22 working days) – 2200 kg (100 kg per day);
• selling price for 1 kg – 200 rubles;
• cost of raw materials per 1 kg – 35% or 70 rubles;
• monthly revenue (minus costs for raw materials) – 286,000 rubles.

Hence, profit before tax will be: 286,000 – 210,000 ( fixed costs) = 76,000 rub. From this amount we subtract the simplified tax system (15% of profit) and get a net profit of 64,600 rubles. The payback of the project, subject to 100% shipment of manufactured products, will occur after 10 months of operation of the cheese factory.

Even if you are planning to open a cheese factory at home, you still cannot do without a business plan. Only after calculating all the expenses and possible options development of your cheese business, you can count on success. The advantage of a mini-cheese factory is that it does not require expensive equipment or highly qualified personnel to open it.

Formal part of the matter

To open a home cheese factory, it is important not only to register as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity. If you want to work officially without problems, you need to obtain all the licenses that are required to operate food production.

Products must be produced under special conditions. The room must have:

• cold and hot water supply;
• heating;
• natural light;
• sewerage;
• furniture made exclusively of plastic or metal;
• tiles on the walls;
• ventilation;
• fire safety equipment.

Only in this case can you obtain permits from the SES and fire inspection.

Equipment selection

The technical set for making cheese depends on how many heads of livestock you have on your farm. If you have a small farm, you can limit yourself to a mini-cheese factory, which costs no more than a bread machine or multicooker. It connects to a regular household network, takes up very little space, so it can be used at home.

She calculated about 18 liters of milk. The entire production technology takes approximately 120 minutes. One cycle can produce about 2 kg of cheese. That is, one worker can process 72 liters of milk at home per day. Using this setup, you can do business not only with cheeses, but also with yoghurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, cream, and more.

However, only common popular products can be prepared using such equipment. The technology for producing premium cheeses will require purchasing a special cheese making kit. It usually includes:

• stainless steel container;
• milk filter;
• cooler;
• maturation chamber;
• mold for pressing cheese;
• press;
• brine pool.

On the market you can buy a production line already selected for a specific type of product. Therefore, if you are planning to open a relatively large-scale business, you need to think through the range of cheeses in advance and select equipment for it. Production technology different types cheeses are not the same, so you will need special equipment.

Raw material suppliers

As a rule, such a business is opened by those farmers who have a certain number of cows or goats on their farm. But if you don’t have your own small herd, this is not a reason to ignore the opportunity to open such a business. You can find milk suppliers and produce cheeses using purchased raw materials.

You can enter into agreements for the supply of milk with various farms that are located near your cheese factory. In terms of labor costs, it is even easier than maintaining your own herd. The most simple option there will be a purchase of milk from rural population, but in this case it is necessary to very carefully control the quality of the milk. The quality of your products and your image in the market depend on it.

Cheese production technology

Business has its advantages over the production of other food products. First of all, it is absolutely waste-free. The whey that remains after cheese production is also readily purchased for various needs. Leftover milk can be sold along with cheese products. And from the leftover cheese and cottage cheese you can make processed cheese.

Their production technology is simple and straightforward. All residues are poured into a special melting tank, where they melt with constant stirring. While the mixture has not cooled, it is poured into packages and sent to refrigeration chambers.

The easiest way to prepare soft cheeses at home. To do this, the milk is curdled, strained and compressed. This cheese is prepared in literally a couple of days, since it does not need to ripen like hard cheeses.

The technology for making elite cheeses, especially those with mold, is more complex. In this case, it is necessary to first ferment the raw material and keep it for several days, depending on the variety. Then a special fungus is added to it, and the product is left to mature. The period also varies and in some cases can reach 12 months. Only after this is the final shaping of the product carried out.

Staff

If your business is very small, then you don’t have to hire additional staff, but get by on your own or with the help of relatives. If you are planning to open a small workshop and purchase a separate production line, you will need assistants - no more than three people. At the same time, it is important that they understand the peculiarities of cheese production.

Cheese sales

Before starting a business, you need to think about where and how you will sell your products. Distribution channels depend on the size of your business. If you are organizing a small production, you can sell the goods at the nearest food market or drive a truck to the nearest city.

Larger-scale production will expand distribution channels to:

• wholesale resellers;
• retail chains in the city;
• shops in the city;
• catering establishments.

The ideal distribution channel is your own small store.

Approximate cost calculation

If we take as a basis a cheese factory in which approximately 100 kg of cheese will be prepared per day on a special production line, then the initial main costs will look like this:

• registration and other expenses – 100 thousand rubles;
• production line (including installation and delivery) – 300 thousand rubles;
• education employees– 30 thousand rubles.

In total you will need approximately 430 thousand rubles.

Every month your production will require the following expenses:

• utility costs - 30 thousand rubles;
• salary for 2 people – 40 thousand rubles;
• other expenses – 50 thousand rubles.

In total, you will need to shell out about 140 thousand rubles every month.

With such production capacity, 2200 kg of cheese can be produced per month at an average selling price of 200 rubles/kg. Taking into account all related expenses, you can earn approximately 50 thousand rubles per month. and achieve payback in less than a year.

Analysis of statistics shows that domestic market The demand for cheese is constantly growing, making this type of business more and more profitable and attractive.

Russian markets are replete with imported varieties, but to find a product among them domestic production rarely succeeds.

There are very few small workshops and farms operating in this direction, therefore, competition is low.

Where to start?

The start of any business begins with a clearly defined strategy, which should be reflected in the form step-by-step business plan. This approach to project organization will save financial and human resources and avoid pitfalls.

Still at the planning stage for a cheese production workshop the entrepreneur should study the following questions:

• How to register a business and obtain permits?
• How does the cheese production process work? Studying production technologies and compiling an assortment.
• What is needed for the production process? Selecting premises and equipment, purchasing raw materials, hiring personnel.
• What costs will be needed to open and run a business? Drawing up a financial plan.

Organizational aspects

Registration

If you have firmly decided to open your own cheese production shop, then first of all you need to go through the state registration procedure.

The small size of a start-up enterprise allows you to register it even as an individual entrepreneur.

More often, a manufacturing business is registered in the form of an LLC (it is easier to work with other organizations; there will be no problems with a sharp expansion of production).

Upon registration it is better to choose a simplified taxation system with the object “net income”:

• It is easier to keep records of business activities.
• The registration procedure has been simplified.
• Paying 15% of net income is much more profitable for producers. Typically, the markup on goods is not high and amounts to 10-30% of the cost price. It is better for entrepreneurs to pay 15% of net income than 6% for the “revenue” object.

In addition, you must:

• obtain permission from the SES and the fire department to open a workshop,
• In order for the cheese produced to be purchased, certification of all stages of production will be required.

Today there are many companies that not only provide legal advice, but for a reasonable fee they will be able to prepare all permitting documents.

In practice it has been established that The full process of registration and obtaining permits will take up to 1 month, and the costs will be about 15-20 thousand rubles. (including opening a current account and ordering printing).

Specifics of the technological process

Cheeses that can be found on the shelves of Russian stores can be divided into 4 classes:

• Solid. This class has very great demand. It includes Russian, Swiss and Dutch varieties, rennet cheeses with a hard consistency.
• Semi-solid. The most famous representative of this class is Roquefort. This includes Latvian-made varieties and “savory” cheeses.
• Soft. Cheeses with a soft consistency: varieties “Amateur”, “Slavic”.
• Rassolny. During the production process, they are left to ripen in brine. This includes the varieties of feta cheese, “Imereti”, “Adyghe”, etc.

The complexity of cheese production is due to the fact that various enzymes and biological microflora are actively used in the process.

Production technology, regardless of the volume and type of product, consists of several stages:

• Reception of milk and its analysis for quality and compliance. Adding special substances. Milk is brought to a coagulating state by heating.
• A “cheese grain” is formed and cheese is formed. Next, the product is pressed and salting occurs.
• Maturing of cheese. After the cheese has acquired the desired shape and properties, it is packaged.
• Storage and sale of the finished product.

As an example, we can consider the production technology of the “Suluguni” variety, which is the most popular of Georgian cheeses made using the “pickle” method.

This variety is made from natural cow (or buffalo) milk. The technology allows the use of a combination of these two types. During the preparation of raw materials, fermenting enzymes and several enzymes (rennet) are added to it.

After cooking is completed, the resulting whey is pumped out from the resulting curd, and the suluguni is pressed. Under this press the cheese will ripen for about 5 hours with periodic turning. After pressing, the suluguni is cut into smaller pieces and placed in special “brine” baths.

About the experience of creating a cheese production business based on a mini workshop, watch the video:

What will you need to open?

Room

The room for a mini-workshop should be divided into several areas:

• Fermentation room. This is where the primary processing and preparation of milk takes place.
• Production workshop. The place where the main events take place production processes. The equipment used in production is compact in size, so the workshop area can start from 40 sq.m.
• Luggage storage. Refrigeration chambers in which raw materials and finished products.

The workshop premises must comply with all sanitary standards and fire safety requirements.

Availability of electricity, water, sewerage and ventilation is required. Dimensions should be selected based on the principle of sufficiency. Existing workshops are organized in premises ranging from 50 to 300 sq.m.

Equipment

Kit minimal equipment depends on the chosen production technology. The use of equipment will speed up the process and improve the quality of the products produced.

An approximate list of equipment consists of:

• 52 liter capacity made of stainless steel;
• racks;
• milk processing equipment (coolers and filters);
• maturation chambers;
• molds for pouring cheese;
• press tables;
• "brine" baths.

Typically, cheese factories use equipment from Italian manufacturers, as the best price-quality option from imported equipment suppliers.

The price of an imported production complex is 3 – 4 million rubles. Domestic analogues of cheese equipment will cost much less - up to 200,000 rubles and ideal for budding entrepreneurs.

Raw materials

For cheese production purposes you can use various types milk (cow, sheep, goat, etc.).

You can organize its delivery in several ways:

• From private owners. The most risky, but also the cheapest way. Producers negotiate with private households that own dairy cattle to purchase milk. The “collection” and transportation of products occurs periodically.
• From farms. Farmers constantly sell “surplus” milk at low prices so that it does not go sour.
• Creating your own farm. Having your own herd will provide the entrepreneur with food independence and allow him to earn more profit.

For beginning entrepreneurs, the first method is the most accessible, but you should take into account possible risks related to milk quality.

When purchasing you must pay attention to the following criteria:

• Quality and environmental friendliness. The product must be natural and free of impurities.
• There should be no antibiotics in the milk. Do not buy milk from sick cows.
• The maximum fat content of milk should be 4%, and the protein content should be above 3.5%.

Staff

Maintenance of a mini-cheese production workshop does not require large labor resources.

At the initial stage, 2-3 employees of different profiles are enough:

• Technologist, who know everything about cheese making will be responsible for production technology and product quality. His responsibilities also include developing new varieties and “flavors” of cheese. Must have great experience work in similar industries and a high level of qualifications.
• Handy workers.
• Logistician deals with the purchase of raw materials, delivery and storage of raw materials. Responsible for the sale of finished products. At the initial stage, there is no need to keep a separate employee in this position, so these functions can be performed by the business owner.

Example of financial calculation

Expenses: 905,000 rub.

Capital investments - 765,000 rubles.

• Registration and obtaining permits – 25,000 rubles.
• Purchase and installation of equipment – ​​250,000 rubles.
• Renovation of the premises - 100,000 rubles.
• Personnel training – 20,000 rub.
• Purchase of raw materials – 350,000 rub.
• Advertising – 20,000 rub.

Current (monthly) expenses – 140,000 rubles.

• Rent of premises – 35,000 rub.
• Salary (3 employees) – 80,000 rub.
• Utility costs – 15,000 rub.
• Other expenses - 10,000 rubles.

If at the initial stage we produce 200 kg of cheese per day, then the monthly production volume will be 4,400 kg (for 22 working days). Then cost calculation for 1 kg of cheese will look like this:

• Milk: 9 liters per 1 kg of cheese * 16 rub. (wholesale cost of milk) = 144 rub.
• Sourdough and additional enzymes (1 dose per 500 liters of milk) = 6 kopecks per 1 kg.
• Current expenses = 140,000 rubles/4,400 kg. = 31.8 rub. per 1 kg.

Total: 175.86 rub. for 1 kg of cheese

Total profit - 90,283 rubles. per month.

4400 kg*200 rub. ( average cost for 1 kg of cheese of different varieties) – 4400*175.86 rub. = 880,000 rub. – 773,784 rub. = 106,216 rub. – 15,933 rub. (tax) = 90,283 rub.

Business in the field of production and sale of products quickly pays off and is promising. An excellent decision for an entrepreneur is to choose the direction of cheese production. When planning your business, you should study practical advice specialists, analyze their relevance and draw up a business plan.

Cheese production

Opening a business does not require as much investment as it seems at first glance. With a competent approach to conducting business, having invested no more than 1,000,000 rubles, it is possible to return them within six months. You can save by renting the necessary elements of the business, postponing their purchase until it is established. It is profitable to open production for residents rural areas who own a farm that allows them to provide technological line necessary raw materials.

How to apply

When drawing up a business plan for cheese production, you should include in the project a section regulating the official registration of entrepreneurship. The choice of organizational and legal form of business is carried out based on the scale of the planned production.

For small mini-workshops, it is enough to open an individual enterprise, the functioning of which is limited to small production volumes of cheese produced and its sale to the population. When planning large cheese factories, the sale of products from which will be carried out by agreement to stores and retail chains, it is recommended that the business entity register legal entity in LLC status. Its advantage lies in the possibility of tax optimization through the use of special regime taxation - Unified Agricultural Tax.

The technological scheme for cheese production must be licensed, since the results entrepreneurial activity belong to the food category.

They must be certified and meet the requirements of regulatory sources. For each batch of goods you will have to obtain a certificate of conformity. To obtain it, an entrepreneur needs to contact an accredited certification body with a set of documents, which includes a sanitary certificate, veterinary certificate and a sketch of the product label.

Holding and storage of finished products

Analysis of competitors' activities and market research

When planning cheese production as a business, it is important to study consumer preferences, through which the sales market is formed. Do not forget about the activities of competitors and set up a technological line for the production of cheese varieties from their catalog. Such a decision will force low price for products, which will lead to a long-term return on investment. It is better to organize the production of an innovative product and position it as a new product. When creating it, you should take into account several areas of the product, each of which has a specific process and the use of different raw materials.

If you decide to start producing pressed uncooked cheese, you need to be prepared for high competition. Since the manufacturing technology requires keeping the product in storage for up to a year, additional costs will be the need to expand the warehouse area, which is not profitable for small businesses. A product that takes a long time to produce time period, is not suitable for the choice of those businessmen who do not want to wait to make a profit, since they need it as soon as possible.

Faction separation

An excellent solution for a small enterprise would be the production of fresh cheese. It does not require pressing and has a delicate curd consistency. By melting the rennet base, processed cheeses are obtained, the demand for which is due to their unusual taste and inexpensive cost. Consumers represented by the population, as well as retail chains, will appreciate the efforts of the entrepreneur and will probably become his regular customers. Since the production of products and their sale are carried out online, it will not be difficult for the project manager to expand production.

Many entrepreneurs noted great prospects in the cheese manufacturing industry a long time ago - when the domestic market began to experience an acute shortage of this product. And over time, many businessmen have been able to implement a business project for the production and sale of cheese. And not only is this area attractive due to the huge demand, but there are also no special difficulties to overcome when starting a workshop - the cheese production technology is simple, and the equipment is quite widely represented on the market. But there are some nuances here, since we are talking about a food enterprise. Therefore, an entrepreneur should still be prepared to resolve important issues.

Our business assessment:

Starting investments – from 50,000 rubles.

Market saturation is average.

The difficulty of starting a business is 6/10.

The best option for a novice entrepreneur is to open a mini cheese production plant, and not an entire industrial complex, because it will not be easy to get one on its feet. But a small workshop is not difficult to maintain - you can get by with a minimum of staff. But there is another way to start own business– organize home business. Making homemade cheese, in terms of technology, will differ little from products industrial production, but here there is no labor automation; almost all stages will have to be carried out manually. And it is absolutely clear that you cannot manually produce large quantities of goods, selling which you can get a lot of revenue.
A well-developed business plan for cheese production is almost half the success. The project analyzes the sales market and the level of competition, selects raw materials and technological processes, and provides calculations of capital investments and further profits. A business plan is needed not only to “present” it to the bank or investors, but also for yourself - in order to build a stable enterprise and its further development.

What needs to be taken into account in order to open your own hard cheese production in Russia?

Which cheese is more profitable to produce today?

The recipe for making cheese has been known for many centuries, and during this time many types of cheese have appeared. Each variety is characterized by an original composition and a special production technology. Therefore, even before purchasing equipment, it is important to think about which of the possible types of cheese will be produced within the walls of the plant.

There are several main groups of cheeses:

• hard cheeses,
• soft cheeses,
• pickled cheeses,
• smoked cheeses.

Also, there is a classification according to which all cheeses are divided into types depending on the milk used in the manufacturing process. So, for example, in addition to products made from cow's milk, we can distinguish goat cheese and cheese from buffalo milk.

Even a beginner in this business will be able to master the technology for obtaining any of the presented types of products. But it is the production of hard cheese that today is considered the most promising niche, since the products are used the highest demand, due to its taste and variety of applications.

Having worked out the recipe, it will be possible to produce the following varieties of hard cheeses popular among the population:

The production of hard cheeses will relieve the manufacturer from many technological difficulties. For example, to obtain blue cheese, you will need to purchase expensive enzymes, and pigtail cheese will require the purchase of additional equipment.

So, within the walls of the workshop we decided to produce only hard cheese. Now we will take care of documenting the enterprise, purchasing high-quality raw materials and equipment.

Registration of a future enterprise

Since it is planned to launch an enterprise in the field food industry, then cheeses Russian production V mandatory must undergo quality certification. But you can receive certificates only after the workshop is registered with the tax service.

As an organizational and legal form, it is better to carry out your activities through an LLC.

In order to obtain permission for mini cheese production, the following package of documents must be submitted to Rospotrebnadzor:

• bid,
• constituent documents of the enterprise.
• veterinary certificate for raw materials,
• phytosanitary certificate,
• ready-made samples of labels and packaging.

After inspections and quality analyzes of the sample product, the supervisory authorities will give permission to carry out activities.

Will cheese production at home require official registration? It all depends not only on the honesty of the entrepreneur, but also on his future plans. And if friends and acquaintances still buy uncertified products, then not a single store will sell such a product. Therefore, if you are planning to enter larger markets, all permits must be obtained.

Raw materials used and technology for producing hard cheese

Technological diagram for the production of hard cheeses

Recipes for cheese production are kept in the strictest confidence by all enterprises, since few of them work according to GOST - preference is given to specifications, when it is possible to change both the composition of the finished product and its technology. That is why it will be difficult to indicate any exact recipe for the cheese. To produce a high-quality, tasty product, you cannot do without the help of a qualified technologist.

Let us highlight only the main components that are necessarily used to obtain hard cream cheese:

• milk,
• leaven,
• salt.

Often, to reduce the cost of the final product, not only natural ingredients are added to the recipe, but also artificial ones - flavors, preservatives, dyes. If you are going to offer consumers only a high-quality product, it is better to refuse to use them.

And if processed cheese is produced mainly from the “residues” of cheese production, and many manufacturers do not pay special attention to the quality of the raw materials, then for the production of hard cheeses it will be necessary to carry out strict incoming control of all components entering for processing.

You should enter into an agreement with suppliers for wholesale supplies of raw materials - this way you can minimize costs. The contract specifies all the requirements that all components must meet.

The technology for making hard cheeses involves complex biochemical processes.

But in general, the process can be represented as follows:

• Preparation of milk (pasteurization, cooling, aging, introduction of bacterial starter).
• Coagulation of milk to form a homogeneous mass;
• Maturation of the mass.
• Salting the mass and forming cheese heads.
• Pressing cheese and drying it.
• Coating the cheese wheel with a special paraffin-polymer composition.

And it’s just simple technological scheme makes cheese production possible implementation process at home. But in order to obtain hard rennet cheese, all of the above operations will need to be performed manually. But in fairness, we note that a fully automated line will require human intervention - technology has not yet achieved this high level, when each of the stages would be carried out by machines.

The resulting Parmesan cheese must pass internal control quality. And for this, in addition to a qualified technologist, it is necessary to hire laboratory technicians who can distinguish soft cheese from hard varieties, and know all the quality indicators that the final product must meet.

How to equip a workshop for the production of hard cheeses?

The next thing the entrepreneur has to do is buy equipment for cheese production. Thanks to the active development of this niche, a lot of technical equipment options for both mini-workshops and full-scale plants have appeared on the market.

Hard cheese production line

A standard cheese production line consists of the following equipment:

• pasteurization baths,
• soaking baths,
• press,
• shapes,
• paraffiner,
• desktops.

The price of cheese production equipment indicated in the list will depend on its power and degree of automation. For a small enterprise, a line costing 500,000-700,000 rubles will be sufficient for the next few years. But to the mandatory costs for technical equipment workshop, you also need to add the cost of refrigeration chambers for storing raw materials and finished products. And this is at least another 300,000 rubles. You may also need additional forms for cheese, so that it is possible to produce cheese heads of different diameters. But they are inexpensive. To expand the range of products, you should think about purchasing an industrial slicer that would cut cheese into layers, and a packaging machine that would pack cheese slices in a vacuum. Add another 300,000-400,000 rubles to expenses.

If so impressive starting capital is not available, then a standard low-power line will be quite sufficient. In addition, purchasing used equipment will significantly reduce start-up costs.

Profitability of the planned enterprise

A mini workshop for the production of hard cheese will begin to make a profit when sales channels are established. Hard varieties are more popular than the same Adyghe cheese and Suluguni cheese, and therefore, as practice shows, it will not be difficult to find interested buyers. But the main bet should still be placed on the sale of large quantities of released goods - there will be more revenue, and the products will not sit in warehouses.

As for the specific profitability figures of the planned enterprise, it all depends on its capacity and pricing policy in the region. On average, cheese is sold at a wholesale price of 150-250 rubles/kg. And when producing about 400 kg of finished product per day, a mini cheese production business can bring its owner an income of over 1,500,000 rubles. And for a small workshop these are excellent financial indicators. Minus everyone variable costs for carrying out activities, net profit will be 50,000-120,000 rubles/month.

When the enterprise will pay off will depend on the investments made in the business. If we take the minimum, the cheese production process will require costs of 1,500,000 rubles. It is possible to start a home business without spending even 50,000 rubles. But you shouldn’t count on big profits here, since it’s physically impossible to produce large quantities of products manually.