Krinos promotes ‘Feta Culture’
Krinos Foods Canada has introduced a marketing initiative called “Krinos Feta Culture” to promote the popular Mediterranean-style cheese.
The program is built around the re-launched Krinos.ca, which contains recipes featuring its feta products, accompanied by “Feta FAQs” and a history of Krinos Foods feta.
It is one of the first marketing pushes for the company, which has traditionally relied on in-store promotion and sponsorship of events such as Toronto’s annual Krinos Taste of the Danforth food festival to raise consumer awareness.
Alexander Alexakis, vice-president of Canadian operations for Krinos in Toronto, says the program’s main objective is to educate Canadians on the versatility of feta cheese.
Established in 1965, Krinos Foods was the first Canadian importer of feta cheese from nations such as Greece and Bulgaria. “We’ve been importing feta since day one,” says Alexakis. “It’s our specialty.”
While Canadian cheese manufacturers make feta, it is made with cow’s milk rather than the traditional sheep and goat’s milk. True Greek feta contains a minimum of 70% sheep’s milk and no more than 30% goat’s milk.
Krinos began manufacturing its own Mediterranean-style feta in Canada about six years ago, using sheep’s milk produced in St. Mary’s, Ont. Alexakis says the emerging “foodie” culture convinced the company to pursue the traditional manufacturing method.
“We realized that Canadian consumers were ready for feta made in Canada
He says the pubic responded “very well” to the new sheep’s milk fetas, which helped expand the category as a whole. “All of a sudden we have a category of feta in the stores because of what we did, not just one type of feta under three brands.”