CASE STUDY PASTORALIA AND PAJUELO BROTHERS

INTRODUCTION The aim of this document is to present the case study concerning to Pastoralia interpretative centre of “Torta del Casar” and “Pajuelo Brothers”, the aim of describing these cases of studies is to show examples of good practices and successful stories starring by local producers/farmers/SMEs or entrepreneurs. Basically, these have developed different services and products related to tourism, attracting and diversifying their business.

The interview includes the following aspects: 1.

Name of the company and brief description.

2.

Who is Santiago Pajuelo?

3.

How does the business idea arise?

4.

What are the success keys of your business?

5.

Did you have any previous knowledge about the market?

6.

How is your business linked with the tourism sector?

7.

What challenges for the next years do you have?

8. What suggestions would you make to other farmers/ producers/ tourism companies who want to follow your example?

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CONTENTS Name of the company and brief description.

“Hermanos Pajuelo SAT”, which in English comes to be “Pajuelo´s Brother´s ATS- Agrarian Transformation Society”, is a family-owned company located in Cáceres and dedicated to produce the most famous cheese in the region of Extremadura, called “Torta del Casar- Protected Desgination of Origin”, an especial designation for high-quality food products located in an specific geographical area. Torta del Casar is a creamy-soft cheese, completely natural and made of raw ovine sheep milk.

Who is Santiago Pajuelo? Santiago Pajuelo is the CEO of Pajuelo´s Brothers, he started his business in 1990, with a little cattle comprising only 20 sheeps in a little farm. Today, his cattle have more than 3,000 sheeps and, consequently, a huge livestock extension. The production process is completed in the cheese factory, both of places are under a strict sanitary control which guarantees the quality of the product.

How does the business idea arise?

After 20 years working in the cheese factory, Santiago knows that “Torta del Casar” is a product with an interesting history and culture, both of them unknown by most of the people. That is the reason why Santiago decided to create the interpretative centre: Pastoralia, in order to show the origin and evolution of “Torta del Casar” This interpretative centre consists on a modern, graphical museum, where the information is available in several languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and German. In this museum, the visitors can enjoy a tour where the lights, sounds, videos and other interactive materials play an interesting mixture, carrying the visitors to a time travel in order to show them the life style of the traditional sheepers, as well as the evolution from the most ancient to the most current ways of producing the cheese.

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After the museum, visitors can see the cheese factory, guided by a professional who works in Pastoralia and knows very well every stage of the production of this creamy cheese. Finally, the tour ends in the commercial establishment, where the visitors can taste the different kinds of cheese produced by “Pajuelo Brothers”.

What are the success keys of your business?

• Pastoralia is the first interpretative centre about a local food product in the region of Extremadura, being a pioneering and innovative initiative and attracting groups of tourists from many places. • In the commercial establishment the visitor can find a huge variety of regional high-quality food products apart from the cheeses produced by “Pajuelo Brothers”. Here, Santiago also sales merchandising related to cheese and sheep world, these aspects make Santiago´s offer be different compared to competitor´s offer, enhancing the sales and diversifying the resources of income. • Effort in constant improvement of the product and internationalization, for this reason, Santiago attends lot of regional, national and international fairs, where he can show and sell his product, as well as develop relations with partners and know new ideas and trends related to production, selling, etc. Thanks to this kind of actions, Santiago has won important awards and recognitions.

Did you have any previous knowledge about the market?

Santiago studied Business Administration at the university and had previous knowledge about the sector, but he did not develop a detailed research related to market or customer´s necessities before creating his business. On the one hand, though observation, Santiago realized that there was a business opportunity which could make the difference and let him obtain a competitive advantage: enhancing the sells using the customer´s emotions, developing a strong relation between “Torta del Casar” and the cheese universe and culture around this traditional product. On the other hand, Santiago searched a way of differentiation by prices based on high-quality unique products.

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How is your business linked with the tourism sector?

Pastoralia has been specially designed in order to make the visitor´s experience enjoyable and

unforgettable. As the CEO, Santiago works in strong cooperation with the rest of stakeholders in the tourism sector: tour guides, tourism associations and tourism activities companies are only a few examples. Both Pastoralia and Pajuelo´s Brothers have their own website, available in English and Spanish. On Pastoralia´s website, the visitor can find interesting things about the interpretative centre and book his tour online. Other way to connect with the tourist is the development of a Facebook profile of Pastoralia, because Santiago understands that social networks are the showcase and the most effective way of dissemination and marketing nowadays.

What challenges for the next years do you have?

The main goal of Santiago is continue to work hard in order to consolidate Pastoralia and Pajuelo Brothers like a well-known cheese production company in the national frame, as well as get “Torta del Casar” be the most famous cheese in the world. Other challenge is to continue being different of the rest of competitors and to achieve a strong market positioning

What suggestions would you make to other farmers/ producers/ tourism companies who want to follow your example?

First of all, it is necessary to have a deep knowledge about the characteristics and potential of their product, as wells as having confidence on it.

Working hard not only for increasing the production, but in order to accomplish a production process with more efficiency and quality. And last but not least, do not stop innovating and thinking different.

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