Tonio Da Silva and Robert Dudouet have been running DPFC (Distribution Produits Francs-Comtois) for five years. Born in Portugal, Tonio Da Silva (age 40) arrived in Paris with his parents when he was 4. The son of a builder, he began working after leaving high school. At 20, he was hired by a large Rungis wholesaler in dairy products. After working there for eleven years, his good professional reputation earned him a job at DPFC, where he climbed the ladder until reaching the top position as CEO. From a family with a transport-delivery business, Robert Dudouet (age 53) started working for the family business at 16. After getting his licence as a lorry driver, he took to the roads for several years before becoming the manager of a cheese warehouse. In 1981, after the company was sold to a large operator at Rungis, he specialized in pasteurized hard cheeses and later managed that department for the company. That was where he met Tonio Da Silva, who arrived five years’ later. By 2001, both were working for DPFC, a company founded by Mr Zurcker twenty years before. Today, DPFC (12 employees) sells upmarket products with names like comté, cantal, emmental, beaufort d’été, abondance, gruyere d’alpage, various farmhouse AOC goat’s cheeses, mont d’or, Corsican cheeses including several reputable brocciu and blue-veined cheeses. There are over 800 listed products in all.
However, the company does not sell butter, cream, eggs, milk or fresh dairy products. “80% of our clientele is composed of dairy and cheese retailers, some of whom are very well known. We also export to EEC countries like Belgium, Holland and Finland,” explains Tonio Da Silva. “Our company is really a place for cheesemongers and we are keen to ensure the steady quality of our products,” adds Robert Dudouet. “Our producers and ripeners have been selected for the quality of their products and some are gold medallists. That’s why we manage to sell 120 tons of mont d’or in the six months of the season. Rungis remains a very beautiful showcase on condition that the products are excellent and professionals take quality seriously, because the cheesemonger space at Rungis is a market that is unique in the world,” Tonio Da Silva concludes.
