Robert (Leroy) Shatto had been a dairy farmer for more than 3 decades
when he decided he needed to change
his direction as he was losing money on the family farm. Rather
than sell his raw milk to a national firm, he wanted to process and
sell his own farm fresh milk direct to local grocery stores.
His vision was to expand his family dairy to include a processing
facility in order to provide high quality, locally processed milk,
delivered
within hours of processing in glass bottles. A study conducted
through a grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture told him
it was feasible. Leroy called the Kansas City Chapter of SCORE
for help in marketing his idea and interpretation of the feasibility
study. After one visit by counselor Ken Bayer, Ken called on
support from counselor George Lancaster who has an extensive, life-long
background in dairy operations. These two helped Mr. Shatto work
through
herd management questions; logistics of the dairy operation; processing
of his loan application, which was transferred from the St. Joseph,
Missouri, office to Kansas City; estimation of the number of grocery
stores
to be accepted initially, pricing, advertising and other marketing
factors. Mr. Bayer also provided help with press releases and
coordination with Mr. Shatto's Congressman and Senators. The
dairy processing plant was built, employees hired and Shatto Milk
Company
began deliveries in June 2003, with 8 clients to immediate success.
In July 2004, Shatto Milk Company held an open house attended by
more than 1,500 people to celebrate their expansion to 38 stores in Missouri and 11 stores in Kansas. Mr. Shatto
had
to almost double his herd to accomplish this growth. He is now
considering alternatives for expansion that are limited by the lack of
additional pasturage. He is committed to maintaining Shatto
Milk Company as a local family business with all operations run
and controlled by family members and loyal employees working at
the family farm.
SCORE
is a Resource Partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration
SCORE
is a Resource Partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration