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w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m S e p t e m b e r 2 0 14 • I NSIGH T | 27 except when it comes to their personal Fourth of July fireworks displays on Crystal Lake. Gentine says Jim Sartori is losing. Also, Gentine jokes Sartori should play golf with an honest handicap. "We've always been able to have fun with each other," Gentine says. "Relative to our businesses, they're always supportive to our efforts and we don't compete head-on, at least not at this time. We like to see them be successful and I think they feel the same way." And when it comes to cheese, everybody wins. "I think that like Sargento, Sartori Foods has always tried to bring innovation to the marketplace, and I think they've done a good job with their BelleVitano and SarVecchio lines and some of the other products they've introduced to the market," Gentine says. "It's always very much a high-quality cheese. e company has won lots of awards nationally and internationally, and whenever you have someone in the industry with that type of effort and business philosophy, it's good for everybody. It raises the bar for everyone." Written on the wall R aising the bar is what the company's all about. Its values – family, commitment, authenticity, ingenuity, integrity and humility – are prominently displayed on its corporate headquarters wall. "'Ingenuity' was intentionally picked over 'innovation' because we feel like it's a broader concept, of how to do things differently and better," Schwager says. Larry Steckbauer, master cheesemaker at the Antigo plant along with Mike Matucheski, who heads the effort to develop new Sartori flavors, says not every flavoring trial is successful, but no one's afraid to fail – the acceptance of failure is one of the important components of fostering the kind of culture of ingenuity that Sartori seeks. "Sartori really gives us the flexibility to go out there and try different things," Steckbauer says. "ere's so many things going on right now with different ideas – it's almost a constant thing. Mike Matucheski has a room in our building that he's constantly experimenting in, and his office is all full of different spices and different unique ingredients." "I can say the ideas come from everywhere in the company," Sartori says. "ere's a culture here of ingenuity, and there are no bad ideas – I mean, most of them don't work. "We try a lot of different things that don't work, but that's OK." Hear Sartori Company CEO Jim Sartori and President Jeff Schwager discuss the growth and success of the cheese making company since making the leap into retail sales. Naming a newborn cheese BellaVitano: Loosely translated as "the good life" in Italian MontAmoré: Roughly "love in the mountains," in Italian Heritage & history To learn more about the early beginnings of Sartori Company and how Jim Sartori went from sweeping the floor to running the company, visit www.insightonbusiness.com. published. at's something they're very conscientious of, making sure that they are providing quality milk to us every day so that we can continue making quality cheese." Sartori patron farms range in size from as few as 20 cows to as many as 500. "We're all about where we can get the quality milk from – it doesn't matter what the size or type of farm it is," Neu says. Sartori Company considers its patron farmers to be company employees. All of the farmers were invited to participate in the company's 75th anniversary party, celebrated in July at Lambeau Field. Patron farmer Paulette Ditter attended with her granddaughter, who happened to be celebrating her 12th birthday. She got to have her picture taken with Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby, who has been closely involved with many of the same charity efforts as the company. "You don't get a lot of big companies that will do that for people," Ditter says. "It was very nice." Ditter's family owns a 45-cow farm in Plymouth and has been a patron farmer with Sartori since 1995. "I think it's great that they recognize the small farms and the family farms, just like (Sartori's) company is a family-owned company, too," Ditter says. Family tradition T he company is linked historically with another Plymouth-area cheese industry family, the Gentines. In 1953, Jim's father, Joseph Sartori, partnered with Leonard Gentine to launch Sargento Foods. (e 'Sar' and the 'Gent' were pulled from the founders' names with an 'o' tacked on to sound Italian, Sartori says). In 1965, Leonard Gentine bought out Joseph Sartori's share in the business, and the families have remained close. "We've certainly remained extremely good friends on a personal basis as well as on a corporate basis," says Lou Gentine, CEO of Sargento. "We're always happy to see what Jim and Sartori (Company) are doing. It's been extremely successful under his leadership, following his father's footsteps. We continue to use them for a source of supply for some of our products." ere's no real rivalry between the two famous companies,