Revolutionary Ruth: How Monforte is Changing the Game
by Malcolm Jolley

It costs money to make good food, and the higher prices craft producers charge for their products reflect the higher costs they pay for ingredients, labour and whatever else. Ruth Klahsen's old landlords didn't seem to understand that, and when they saw the price tags for her prized Monforte Dairy cheeses they figured they could hike up her rent, which they did. There was no way Klahsen could break even with the new rent. And making cheese requires a safe, inspected facility, of which there were no others in Stratford. She was stuck and for nearly a year, the good food community in Southern Ontario worried about the future of the chef-turned-cheesemaker's operation. Then in early 2009, Klahsen announced Monforte Rennaissance 2010, a scheme whereby her customers could buy "futures" in her cheese ($500 cash gets you $750 in future cheese), if she could raise enough cash ($500,000) to build a new site and get back into production by 2010.

So far, it seems to be working. Klahsen and her team have raised $250,000 from over 500 subscribers and I met her recently in an abandoned bakery on the outskirts of Stratford that will begin to produce sheep, mare and water buffalo milk next spring. There are also plans to make the plant open to the public with a cafe and windows into the finishing rooms. Meanwhile Klahsen has begun making cheese again at the Mariposa Dairy in Lindsay, where she commutes to a few days a week. The change in fortune has been, to use one of Klahsen's favourite words, profound. I sat down with her on some plastic garden furniture in the middle of her big factory building and asked her how all of this happened.

Interview:

Malcolm Jolley: The last time I saw you in Stratford it looked like you might have to stop making cheese. And now we're sitting in what's going to become your new production facility. What happened?

Ruth Klahsen: We were just hanging on, hoping that they'd extend our lease - that's what we were asking for. And they played us a bit and kept us going up to November, when they told us they had rented to someone else and we had to be out by January 31st. And that point it looked pretty serious and my accountant told me I had better update my resume and start looking for a job. She had found out about a teaching position at Conestoga [College] and thought I had better apply.

MJ: But you didn't?

RK: I remembered that [Kawartha Ecological Growers and farmer] Mark Trealout had approached me about Chantecler chickens...

MJ: That's a rare breed, right?

RK: Right. Mark wanted to start raising them, but couldn't afford to get them going. so, I said, "I'll give you $500, just give me back $500 worth of chicken, when you can." So, I had been out walking my dogs and all of a sudden it struck me that if I would do that for Mark, maybe people would do that for us.

MJ: And they have.

RK: Over 500 people have signed-up [to Monforte Renaissance]. The momentum has been so profound. I've realised that the ground is ripe for what we're trying to do and we can't give up because the public is so open to us. Now, we have a responsibility to 507 subscribers to keep going, and that's just the most incredible privilege. I don't know if we'll get up to 1,000, but we're certainly on our way. The CSA model has been amazing.

MJ: Let's talk about the program. It strikes me as more of a capitalist model than anything else. You're issuing a kind of bond. I give you $500 today and you promise me $750 worth of cheese tomorrow. But I'm taking a risk to earn that extra $250 worth of cheese: you might not make it.

RK: That's right. But I think the risk is pretty minimal. We have a history of five years of making good numbers. I really don't think it's that risky. The first few years will be tight on cash flow, but we'll be fine.

You know, I think this is really the sweetest money in the world to borrow, it's just so lovely. We had a pig roast and 400 people showed up. It's been profound. I hope it's a business model that gets copied by everybody.

MJ: I'm not sure it would work with everybody. You certainly had a lot of good will built up to start with and, as you said, a track record. Do you have enough to go forward with your plans?

RK: We can go forward. With the $250,000 we've raised, we can borrow more from the bank against the equipment that we'll buy, if we have to. So technically I do.

MJ: But you're still raising money on the CSA, right?

RK: Yes, absolutely. I would really prefer to use the subscribers' money than the bank's.

MJ: Who are your subscribers?

RK: We have a lot of working class people who really have to save to put in their $200. And there are some very wealthy people too. But for the most part it's pretty much working people. They are people who are incredibly conscious about how they earn their money and where they put it. I'm just grateful they're putting it with us.

Find out more about Monforte Rennaissance 2010 at monfortedairy.com/

Malcolm Jolley is the editor of Good Food Revelation.