Queso de Kbra

Anibal Escanellas, an eighteen-year-old self-made agro-entrepreneur and owner of Queso de Kbra, began his business with his pet goat once he discovered he could profit from the milk without harming the animal. His interest in the goat milk industry brought him to quickly learn about its making and include his family in the project. His mother and sister are involved with the care of the goats. Meanwhile, he is the facility manager, cheese maker, marketing and sales director. Many may ask themselves, “Self-made? How did he come up with the money to start the business?.” Well, from a very young age he has worked training horses and talking care of animal’s upbringings. This job provided him with the necessary funds to begin his business. During the interview I was able to have with him he described, along with his accomplishments in Paso Fino representing Puerto Rico, the process of making the cheese: the milk needs to be pasteurized and left for fermentation for twelve hours to produce the proper consistency. 





         He described his business as, "Still growing and needing further development." Currently he sales his cheese to restaurants, but he will soon provide his product to supermarkets. His goal is to include his cheese in US commerce and the Virgin Islands. When asked about his regards on other competitive brands, Escanellas explained that his cheese is the only local goat cheese on the Island so far, “Other brands come from places such as: Canada and France. They take about three weeks to get to the Island and an additional week to be distributed, therefor they don’t provide the freshness  I’m offering with my product.” More specifically, when asked about U.S. crops and companies he stated, "U.S. companies give jobs to many Puerto Ricans. Right now I can't provide the amount of jobs I would like since my enterprise is still growing, but once I develop the company further and expand my work force I hope to offer as many jobs as possible." His ambitions as a business owner is to expand his production, contribute to the Island’s economy and create a chain of products all Puerto Ricans and foreigners can have access too. 

         From personal experience I can guarantee this goat cheese is amazing in texture, flavor and goes well with anything (from chips and bread to fresh carrots and peppers). The business owner also has a special brownie recipe he developed with his friends and family involving goat cheese. Its peculiar, but tastes great! He also added that they were developing flavors for the goat cheese and wanted to join the yogurt industry. In a few months, look for Queso de Kbra at your favorite supermarket and tell us yourself!