Sargento Cheese CEO and third generation owner, Louis Gentine II spoke yesterday morning at the Silver Lake College CEO Breakfast series. During his speech, he discussed how the Kiel based cheese distributer became as massive as it is today. He was honored to be invited to speak.
While Sargento has been doing many things in order to grow their presence in the cheese industry, Gentine feels there is one main way they have remained so successful.
Gentine made a point to stress the fact that Sargento focuses on distributing natural cheese, and earning the moniker, “the real cheese guys.” He spoke more about how the company takes care of the Sargento family.
Not only does Sargento look after their employees, they also do a lot of charity work. Most people are aware about their partnership with the Green Bay Packers, but Gentine says they also do a lot with another charitable company.
Sargento is the largest contributor to the Sheboygan United Way. It was also noted during his speech that contrary to popular belief, Sargento doesn’t actually make the cheese they sell. They purchase the cheese from local and statewide cheese makers, then slice and package it for resale. Gentine explained that they sell such a variety of cheese, that having enough factory space to make it all would be virtually impossible. They instead focused on the marketing, and distribution aspect of the business.
