DELPHOS - Hal Peters patiently outlined the finer points of acidified sour cream again, hoping those in his tour group would understand.

Traditional, or full-cultured, sour cream, the director of quality control explained, takes up to 10 hours to make. On the other hand, acidified sour cream, which tastes just like full-cultured variety, can be made a lot quicker.

Peters stopped and waited for his English words to be translated. As the translator spouted off roughly what Peters had said, the Ukrainian businessmen touring the Lakeview Farms plant listened intently or took brief notes.

When the translator was finished, the questions started again. The Ukrainians still didn't understand.

"They've probably never seen anything like this before," Peters said.

Searching for some kind of common ground, Peters had his tour group sample a freshly processed batch of acidified sour cream. That seemed to help. Confused or quizzical looks on the part of the Ukrainians were replaced with smiles and nods of the head.

Thursday's tour of the Lakeview plant was the Ukrainians '21st and final tour of a Midwestern food production plant.

Their three-week tour is sponsored by the Center for Economic Initiatives, a Cincinnati-based, non-profit corporation that helps businessmen from developing countries learn modern marketing and production practices.

"This is my second tour I've done," said tour coordinator Bruce Vaillancourt. "We do find these successful. You really don't realize now many light bulbs you turn on."

Vaillancourt's current group 15 executives, none of whom speak much English, are mainly in the meat and dairy industries.

"They've gotten to see several dairies and meat plants," Vaillancourt said, "but this is the first one they've seen that has such a diverse product line."

Lakeview manufactures a number of refrigerated items such as cheese dips, puddings, flan and vegetable dips. The company, which originated in Delphos in 1988, now has processing plants in Chicago and Bristol, Wis.

Upon arrival at the Delphos plant, the Ukrainians were broken up into two groups. While one group toured the processing facilities, the other sampled various Lakeview products and spoke with company officials about marketing strategies.

Regional Sales Manager Chris Burd and Chief Financial Officer Martin Garlock answered marketing questions and Peters and Plant manager Brian Smith gave the tour

"This is a very unique thing for us," Burd said. "I've never done something like this before."

Despite the, Lakeview staff members' inexperience giving such a tour - they all quickly learned that they had to speak slowly for the two translators on hand - the Ukrainians did not hesitate to ask questions.

Burd, Garlock, Peters and Smith answered everything from how to successfully introduce a new product to what exactly is a gelatin parfait.

Lakeview founder and President Gene Graves was happy his staff was able to help the Ukrainian businessmen.

"Its great, these folks get to see what we do. Someday, I'd like to see what they do," he said. "This was great opportunity. It's a great service to do."

Reporter Brian Joseph can be reached by phone at 993-2084 or email at bjoseph@limanews.com.