Town & Country

C M Y K S tarted by St. Boniface Dairy in Notre Dame de Lourdes in 1881, it was purchased by Meinrad Roch in 1964, and it's been a family business ever since. guy Roch took over the business for his father in 1980, and he still loves getting up for work every morning. "The best part of the job is getting to know a lot of different people. I get to meet people from across Canada," he says. "I tried other things before doing this, but even as a lad in high school, I loved meeting the farmers and talking to the people. I saw there was potential in the business, and that hopefully I would see our business grow." But staying competitive with larger processors has been an ongoing struggle. "Over the years it's been quite challenging. We've tried to diversify with other products, but it's hard to compete with larger companies to get into the larger stores. It's hard for us to get a high enough volume of product," Roch says. "We're always looking to expand our butter or organic products." Using organic milk from three Manitoba farms, Roch has so far expanded his product line to include organic milk and kéfir, a fermented milk drink. As the only organic processor in the province, the creamery supplies Ontario-based farmers' co-operative Organic Meadow. "Kéfir is the better seller, because we make organic milk just for Manitoba, while kéfir is made for all of Canada. It has a longer shelf life," Roch says. The company is still famous for its butter, which is made in a conventional, old-style churn. "The texture of our butter is the most important thing. We have good continuity on the amount of salt and moisture because we make smaller batches," Roch says. "It's a local product. We make butter three times a week, so it's local and it's fresh." The High Tea Bakery in Winnipeg has been using the creamery's butter for years. "Everything we sell is baked from scratch with the freshest ingredients, and they have the best products. I'm very glad we have them," says High Tea's Head Baker Mimi guay. "Some butter will be more salty or watery. Their butter is nice and firm and wonderful to work with. It's fantastic." Using local products whenever possible is part of the bakery's mission and something it feels passionate about, guay adds. "It's nice that it's a product we have here in Manitoba. We try to get everything local, but that can be hard to do," she says. "The Rochs are lovely people. We always get such great service from them." Forming long-lasting relationships with happy customers is a family tradition. But Roch says meeting directly with farmers is a thing of the past. "There's almost no farm-separated cream left, so we need to get our cream from the milk or cheese factories. The availability of raw products in the province is getting smaller and smaller." The creamery employs eight people full time in Notre Dame de Lourdes. With its focus on product quality, rural roots and localized food, it's been able to survive and even thrive. "Our business employs families in a small town. It's not the type of business we could start up again in Winnipeg," says Roch. 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