The oldest cheese shop in the US has announced it will permanently close its doors on March 1, citing financial reasons. Since 1892 Alleva Dairy has served its local community in Little Italy in New York City. Unfortunately, financial stress from the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be insurmountable for the small business. Alleva hopes to continue its legacy in a new location.

• Montreal-based Saputo is “streamlining its manufacturing footprint in the U.S.” by converting a California cut-and-wrap facility into a string-cheese plant and closing three other sites. The move will generate 600 new jobs, and cause 720 job losses and was followed by Saputo’s third-quarter earnings report in which the dairy giant reported double the amount of profit compared to the same time period the previous year.
• Adeline Druart, who joined Vermont Creamery in 2002 as an intern, rose to become its president, and shepherded the company through a sale to Land O Lakes and becoming a B Corp., among other milestones, is leaving the company on Feb. 17. David Stearle, vice president of Land O Lakes Dairy Foods Sales, will be appointed president.
• The Cheese Professor Editor Amy Sherman reached out to cheesemaker Mike Koch of FireFly Farms, importer Michele Buster of Forever Cheese, and cheesemonger David Phillips of Potash Markets to get their perspectives on the current state of the industry and what they expect in 2023. Koch also weighed in as the president of the American Cheese Society. Read more here. 
• When it comes to pizza, there’s no such thing as too much cheese. For National Pizza Day Papa John’s unveiled the Crispy Parm Pizza, a pizza with crispy cheese on the bottom.
• Tillamook County Creamery Association has released the 2013 and 2020 vintages of its Makers Reserve program. 
• Culture spoke to the owners of six cheese shops that opened in 2022, some of which are in cheese deserts, a.k.a. towns and cities that previously didn’t have a cheese-centric retail store (like Shea Cheese in Phoenix, Ariz. pictured on the right). The shops are geographically diverse, but the one thing they have in common is the warm welcome they’ve received from their communities. 
• Ali Francis from Bon Appétit is begging restaurants to serve big hunks of cheese as a main dish. In a recent piece, she argues that the portions on cheese plates are simply too small to share and that the world would be better off if restaurants just threw a mega-wedge on the table.

Dates and Deadlines

• The California Cheese Guild announced the lineup for its 17th annual California Artisan Cheese Festival. Learn more here. 
• Through March 31, applications for the Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition are open to innovators working to develop new value-added products using milk and/or dairy ingredients produced in the Northeast. Up to 10 finalists will receive $20,000 in participant support, plus various services to help for bring their products to market. Learn more and apply here. 
• Mark your calendars for the second-annual Anne Saxelby Legacy Fund benefit on Sept. 13 at Chelsea Market in NYC. Tickets go on sale in the spring.

Jobs

• Capriole Goat Cheese in Greenville, Indiana, is in search of a primary cheesemaker/creamery manager. 
• Spring Brook Farm Cheese in Reading, VT is hiring a cheese production manager.

Josie Krogh

Josie Krogh is culture's Digital Strategy Lead. She earned her master's degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from The University of Georgia. Josie developed a love of food while working at farmstands in the D.C. area as a young adult, and discovered her love of cheese while living and working on a dairy farm on Martha's Vineyard. She is passionate about the food supply chain, fresh stone fruit, and dogs. Josie currently lives in Catskill, NY.