Three years ago, Iván Tapia came to visit his aunt in Los Angeles and on a walk to the center of the city he found a place that captivated his business mind: the District of Las Piñatas, which is located on Olympic Street near Central Avenue.
Without hesitation, he returned home to Hollister — a town to the Central California – he took all the cheeses he had made himself and the following week ventured back to the area he saw in Los Angeles to sell them. Dressed in boots and hat, he began to pull his cooler offering his 47 artisan cheeses.
“People thought I was selling beers instead of cheese because it’s all covered up, but I come from a cheese cradle and I know how to make them “, said Tapia de 35 years. “I told them: ‘I sell ranch cheeses.’”
At first he thought it would take him all day to sell them but to his surprise he they finished him in three hours. Seeing his success, he decided to return every weekend to the Piñata District to sell his product.
Now he has wholesale customers who go and they buy from him at his stand on the sidewalk or he takes orders that are made in advance.
He usually travels with one or two of his cousins, who are part of the business, and come to sell almost 1, 200 cheeses every weekend.
Tapia is originally from Atotonilco El Alto, a municipality in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. He said that from the age of 6 he learned to milk the cows, eventually to make the cheeses and then take them to sell them to the market or door to door.
The cheeses are made at Hollister and sold in Los Angeles. (Courtesy)
Seven years ago a bad economy forced him to emigrate to California and he settled in Hollister, in the Monterey Bay area. He began to work in construction but in his mind there was always the idea of having his cows to produce the delicious cheese that his parents taught him to make.
“We arrived with my wife and rented an apartment, after two years I rented corrals on a ranch and bought four cows. Then I bought eight and I made my cheeses. ”
He added that he enjoyed his work in the pens so much that he decided to buy more cows. With the passage of time he came to have 38 of these animals and cheese production increased.
By then he was forced to quit their job in construction and together with three of their cousins they devoted themselves to cheese entirely.
They learned about the permits required for working under California health rules and due to high production they changed the way cows were milked. They could no longer do it by hand, so they started using machines.
Currently Tapia has 100 cows which he milks every day getting around of 600 gallons of milk per day.
They make five types of cheese: Oaxaca, panela, fresh, cottage cheese and cotija enchilado.
“Our motto when we sell cheeses is, ‘try our cheese so that you remember your ranch,’ ” said Tapia. “Because the style we have is ranchero cheese … Then everyone who tastes it tells us ‘I remember when my mother made it’ or ‘I remember the cheese my grandmother made'”.
Iván Tapia (right. ) with his cousins in Hollister, California. (Courtesy)
Continuing the legacy
Tapia said that he constantly talks to his parents who give him advice on how to make cheese.
“ They have been my pillar of free advice and they do not charge me, ”said the businessman with a smile. “I think they are proud of me.”
And he added that their strong sales are on weekends. “We start the route of customers we know and then we go for the new ones”, said the Mexican.
“Some continue to buy us as for restaurants or those who sell homemade food, who buy me from 11 or 30 cheeses in a single day. ”
Tapia said that every weekend they sell about 1, 200 cheeses. And although it is a very heavy job, he and his cousins do not see it that way since they enjoy it.
So far their cheeses have not They have a name because his own clients have made him doubt it.
“I wanted to put ‘Quesos de mi patria’ (Cheese of my country) but all the people He knows us here as ‘the cowboys’… When they see us arrive they say: ‘Here come the cowboys’ and I think we’ll see how we put it on later ”, he explained.
He assured that he is proud of himself for how much he has achieved in such a short time.
“I feel that I am an entrepreneur with the teachings that my parents gave me, ”said Tapia. “When you do what you like, even if it is strong or difficult, it ends up being pleasant.”
