discovering hastings county
Pictured here in 1965 are Stirling Creamery founder Bill West (right) and his son Clare. The business stayed in the West family through three generations. Photo courtesy Stirling Creamery
The Stirling Creamery was founded by William West in 1925 and consisted of a one-room factory. Photo courtesy Stirling Creamery
Bob (left) and his brother Dick are shown with their father Clare. The brothers operated the creamery for about 20 years. Photo courtesy Stirling Creamery
Before it can be packaged butter is dumped into a large ‘boat.’ Photo by Brandon West
cheese, sour cream and other dairy products like the bigger guys do? Well, no. How, then can the small Creamery business remain lucrative while producing a good product? The next light bulb moment would be sure to make Annie, Bill’s great grandmother, extremely proud. Without hesitation and confidence coming through loud and clear, Bill describes the Creamery’s most recent shift: “We’ve separated ourselves with a niche market – specialized butters.” Bill West recognizes the importance of doing butter and doing it very well. Now, in addition to creating their standard one pound butter ‘prints’, and being the only producer of those little butter balls you see in restaurants, Stirling Creamery is entering the world of
flavoured butters…cinnamon sugar, strawberry, and garlic are being produced for all butter lovers, even ‘steak toppers’ – mmmmmm. But those are only marketed commercially – for now. Their recent expansion also made room for a line of embossed butter medallions available to restaurants and hotels…little butter roses, maple leaves, fleur de lis, et al. Not that butter in any shape or form needs any help, but the tidy little rounds do carve a pretty pat. This innovative move appears to have been a very smart one, but really, how does such a small creamery stay afloat financially? The staff has been downsized from 25 to 18 with the recent automation, so that’s reduced costs, but keeping the staff happy has been a resourceful undertaking.
Since large wages are not an option, Bill sees great value in transferring knowledge. When older employees prepare to retire, they familiarize the new staff with their position and if an employee simply can’t be advanced due to the size of the business, the Wests always try to help them “improve their lives with retraining.” One former staff member went on to become a truck driver, with financial assistance from the Creamery. Stirling Creamery’s mission statement, ‘Enrich Lives’, applies to staff and customers alike. That said, Bill sees the staff potentially growing again with increased demand for their new butter products. One former staff member who saw a lot of changes over the years is Bill’s sister Sandy West Brett. She worked part time from 1979 until 2006, recording cream received from the producers and book keeping. In all those years, Sandy says, “I never didn’t want to go to work.” Feeling fortunate to grow up in Stirling, Sandy has seen her Spring 2011 • Country Roads
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