On 23.07.2018, an interview with İbrahim Dönmez and his son Mustafa Dönmez, one of the owners of Arda Milk and Feed, which is one of our oldest dealers in Aydın Çine region, was done.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: Hello, Mr. İbrahim Dönmez. We've been working with you for years. If you could make an assessment since the past years, could you please tell us how you entered this business and how your cooperation with Çamlı Yem and Pınar Süt started?
İbrahim Dönmez: Our cooperation with Pınar Süt has first started in 1974. Those years were the years we began collecting milk with İbrahim Karanfil. I had my motor vehicle, I was taking him to collect milk for Pınar Süt, we were doing research and reporting about how much milk there were in the regions. In 1975, we started collecting milk on behalf of Ekrem Erol, the group collector of Çine and worked with him for 5 years. There were 10 tons of milk collected for him. After this process, I started to work primarily with Pınar Süt and collect milk on my own behalf after 1978 due to some troubles I faced personally and the experiences I had gained in the business until that time. The amount of milk collected was reaching 4 tons while I was a group collector. We also met with Çamlı Yem during milk collection. They first started to bring their forage on lorries to the stores located next to the Pınar Süt factory, between 1983 and 1984. Following; we became their distributor.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: What would you like to say as Pınar Süt's second generation collector Mustafa? Your father İbrahim Donmez said that you took over the business after you completed you military service. When did you complete your military service?
Mustafa Dönmez: The end of my military service coincided with the 2000-2001 crisis. After taking over the milk capacity at 600 liters, we increased the capacity to 3500 liters through our own means at the end of 2 years. I can say that after encountering some problems again in 2002 crisis and overcoming them, I completely took over the business completely with the name Mustafa Dönmez in 2010. Needless to say, we naturally had difficult times in this process ...The competition we faced got stronger with different companies starting business in our region, our profits have decreased time to time, we experienced some unfortunate events but after all; we have been able to continue our struggle until today.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: When did you make your biggest breakthrough?
Mustafa Dönmez: We made the biggest breakthrough after Uysal Gıda left milk collection in 2015. I must say that our milk, reaching up to 35 tons by collecting the majority of the local milk in our region, was wanted by many collectors and firms in this process.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: Alright, let's get back to you Mr. Ibrahim. How do you evaluate milk-forage synergy in the sector? Today, all the dairies have entered the forage business, and forage companies have entered the dairy market. What would you like to say?
İbrahim Dönmez: Instead of buying forage from outside, we prefer to work with a brand we know and trust. We are very pleased with the commitment which we mutually created as a result of this synergy.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: Assuming that the oldest establishments forming this the milk-forage relationship are Pinar Süt and Çamlı Yem; what are the advantages and disadvantages of working with such companies Mr. Mustafa?
Mustafa Dönmez: We believe that it will always be more beneficial for everybody, producers, sellers and factories that dairy and forage business are conducted in relation to each other. We also tell this to people we work with and make our sales in this direction. I observe that we have established our relationship with Çamlı Yem and Pınar Süt in a healthy way with this understanding for 40 years.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: Will this model be effective in the coming years?
Mustafa Dönmez: I think it will. This model has already been standardized and well established in our case.
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: As the second generation, do you think the next generation will continue like this? Can we already say that you will work with us in the same sector?
Mustafa Dönmez: I think that this new generation will be able to operate in the field of producing or processing, rather than collecting or buying milk...
Nevzat Kolcuoğlu: You know that our second forage factory is being built after 35 years. What would you like to say about this proud leap of us?
Mustafa Dönmez: We are proud of the fact that the company we work with renews itself and is building factories at a larger scale. We are a family, the larger the network of this family, the more we will grow together.
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