By Denise Attaway
Clemson University’s packaging science program is helping a Lowcountry business on its way to becoming one of the most unique creameries in the country.
Lowcountry Creamery, a business in Bowman, began production in 2015. One year later, the company is a semifinalist for a Slow Food Charleston Snail Award. Patrick Myers, co-owner, said the company basically is still in the startup phase, but with the help of the Clemson University food, nutrition and packaging sciences department, the Creamery is beginning to see success.
Along with Myers, the other owners of Lowcountry Creamery are Kent Whetsell and Josh Brooks. All three men are Clemson graduates. Myers talks about how being a Clemson graduate helped him come in contact with Andrew Hurley, a packaging science professor at the university.
“It began when I was on campus visiting a former professor,” Myers said. “I was talking about our business and the need to market it. Someone suggested I talk to Dr. Hurley. So I did and everything is starting to come together.”
Lowcountry Creamery is a vertically integrated operation, which means everything the business needs to produce its products is located within the company.
“It’s common for creameries to purchase collective milk from farms hundreds of miles away from operations,” Hurley said.
Lowcountry Creamery gets its milk from the owners’ sustainable family farm, Landsdowne Dairy. The company is a vertically integrated operation, which means everything the business needs to produce their products is located within the company.
Lowcountry Creamery gets its milk from the owners’ sustainable family farm, Landsdowne Dairy.
Myers and Whetsell started the dairy in 2010. During this time, a demand for buying local dairy products, such as flavored butters, artisanal cheeses and yogurts, came about and the owners decided to determine how they could help meet the needs of this new market. They partnered with Brooks to form Lowcountry Creamery and personally invested in an assortment of dairy processing equipment needed to manufacture its dairy products.
Shortly after 2012, they received a USDA value-added producer grant. The Creamery’s owners then partnered with Matson Consulting to assist with a market feasibility study, marketing and business plans. This acceleration allowed Lowcountry Creamery to begin processing a wide variety of dairy products that “is the only assortment of its kind in the Southeast,” Hurley said.
“There are no direct competing creameries that offer this variety of yogurt and crème fraiche in South Carolina, so Lowcountry Creamery is ideal for providing South Carolina residents the freshest dairy products,” Hurley said. “The company is in the beginning stage. Now is a good time for the owners to start building company image and creating a public presence.”
The assistance Hurley and his staff have given the Creamery to help with its advertising include designs for a logo, flyers and brochures, business cards and series product labels; website setup and maintenance; and general marketing development.
“They also helped us set up social network sites,” Myer said. “They’ve helped us with things we didn’t even think about.”
“There is something special about Lowcountry Creamery, and others are seeing this too,” Hurley said.
In March, the owners of Lowcountry Creamery were recognized with others as leaders of the “slow food movement” in Charleston.
“It’s not surprising that someone nominated Lowcountry Creamery for this award as they are the only provider in the state with this diverse selection of artisanal yogurt and crème fraiche,” Hurley said. “The creamery is providing not only gourmet chefs with these critical foods, but also everyone in the state who want the unique and fresh dairy products.”
Clemson University is just one of a few universities in the United States that has a packaging science program. The program in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees. It focuses on applying scientific, design, technological and business principles to the development of packages and packaging materials, including raw material production, design, conversion of raw materials into usable forms, distribution and post-use recycling and reuse.
Anyone can get the same assistance as Lowcountry Creamery owners with their food-related businesses. The Clemson food, nutrition and packaging science faculty and staff have several events targeted at helping the public and students learn how to effectively market a business. The events in the first half of 2016 include such workshops as Process Control for Flexography and Introduction to Corrugated Printing and Packaging.