My Personal Connection to Cheese.

A small snapshot of my previous life as a cheese monger.

A small snapshot of my previous life as a cheesemonger.

Cheesemongers are specially trained in the art of cutting, maintaining, wrapping, and speaking to artisan cheese.

For three years I mongered for a locally owned, specialty cheese shop called Cured in the heart of Boulder, Colorado.

Becoming a cheesemonger happened by accident but was one of the most valuable periods of my life.

I fell in love with the expertise and was inspired by the community. Now I want to give back to that community with my skills in UX design.

Cured championed the small producers like Willi Lenher from Bleu Mont Dairy, who take the time to craft delectable, handcrafted cheeses.

The Wholesale Cheese Chain

The wholesale cheese market can have many layers. Buyers are sold cheese through sales representatives who work for distributors. Those distributors work with producers and/or importers in order to move products. There are many situations where producers sell directly to buyers and/ or importers sell directly to buyers.

In this story, each one of these links is represented except for sales representatives. They have been hard to get a hold of in my pursuit of interviews but rest assured my persistence has not wavered.

Before we get started it is important to note that this chain of command expands globally. This project has been mostly about research and identifying the problems within the cheese buying process in order to improve it.

Another note on business specifics: the busiest cheese seasons for everyone in the chain are Q2 (Right as the weather starts to get warmer) and Q4 (Christmas and New Years).

 Cheesemaker

Two of my favorite American cheese makers made the time to sit and speak with me about the industry and their role in it.

I am so humbled by these two amazing people who have dedicated their lives to making amazing cheese. When you get the chance, go to your local artisanal cheese shop and pick up a slice of Dunbarton Cheddar or Bleu Mont Bandaged Cheddar.

Key Takeaways:

• Cheesemaking is a very long & detailed process. These are just a few examples of how sensitive it is.

• The milk has to be fresh and follow a specific standard.

• The chemistry must be perfect.

• The cave or aging facility must be maintained properly and the cheese aging with specific care depending on the type of cheese that is being made.

• Bacteria must be heavily controlled for the months and/or years the cheese is aging.

• After all that work, making sure it is transported properly is essential. That is why small producers rely on close relationships with their buyers and distributors.

• Many times when buyers believe there is a problem with the cheese and ask for credit, the producer has to educate the buyer about the specific type, flavor profile and life cycle about the cheese.

• It is so important to buyers to send their orders in on time for the busy season. Because the cheese is made so far in advance, artisan cheese makers only have so much to sell and a strict cut off window for getting it to the retailer before the holidays.

• Education is key! Mongers need to know how to maintain and sell their product correctly.

• Branding is key! Both producers are multi-generational cheesemakers. Their product is their life and history so their brand must be upheld by those selling it.

 Importer:

I was lucky enough to chat with a representative from Essex St. Cheese. Essex is strictly an importer, meaning they do not consider themselves a distributor. The company has very tight relationships with their producers in Europe and only sells a handful of specific products. Once the cheese is imported to the US, Essex relies on distributors for orders and transportation.

• Education is key! Essex strives to champion their producers and provide the public with amazing European cheeses. I have personally taken classes with Essex and left feeling inspired and full of tasty cheeses.

• The pandemic was hard on supply chains and importation specifically.

• Soft cheese is extremely time and temperature sensitive. These cheeses ripen like fruit and if they do not arrive in a timely manner, they will over-ripe and are no longer able to sell. 

  • This has been happening a lot with companies from abroad. The industry is buying less cheese from Europe because of the high costs of shipping it here and the condition it arrives in.

  • Most of the time, the cheese turns because shipping containers get stuck on a ship, waiting to dock. 

  • Now, gas prices are making shipping costs skyrocket and European cheeses are becoming harder to come by in the US.

 Distributor

Gourmet Foods International is a larger scale distribution company with a wide inventory of American and European high level food products.

I want my product to work with distributors, not compete with them so I wanted to ask as many questions as I could about the nuances of the business. However, GFI comes up again in my competitive analysis because they have their own app with an “add to cart.”

Key takeaways:

• Education is key! It is incredibly important for distributors to know their product. GFI trains their employees on how cheese is made, how it is properly tasted, what it pairs with, how it is prepared in restaurants and how it is handled in stores.

• You can’t control transportation. Weather, human error and miscommunication get in the way of transportation all the time. With such a sensitive product you have to pay close attention to where it is and how it is doing.

• Cheese can pile up in a warehouse and it is hard to move before it goes bad. Distributors often have a “push-list” advertised to their buyers with discounts on products they want to move before it goes bad.

• There is a lot of responsibility in distribution, each step must be handled with care for the product and the buyer.

Buyers/ Cheesemongers

So far, I have interviewed 3 cheese buyers from different retail shops around the country:

Key Takeaways:

• All use their own method of buying cheese using spreadsheets, emails and catalogs.

  • There is a different spreadsheet made by the buyer for each distributor.

  • Distributors categorize their cheese by code and do not sell in an e-commerce format.

  • Cheese is ordered by writing out the product number and the quantity to the distributor or directly to the producer.

• Distributors are allocated to certain zones in a state or city. Sometimes when a buyer is looking for a specific cheese, the distributor within their zone does not carry it. Therefore, the buyer has to research other distributors in the area, and dig through their inventory to find what they need. 

• When there is a problem with the product or transportation, the buyer goes through a long process of communicating with the chain of the market, & reconfiguring their business goals.

• Distributors will often have a push-list for products they have a lot of and need to move. Buyers hate to see the cheese go to waste but have high standards for their customer base and will not consider cheese on  “clearance.”

• Connections are key. The Cheese community is tight-nit, but for someone who is new to the game, it can take a while to develop close relationships across the market chain.

• In order to find the cheese they are looking for, they have to find a distributor who sells that cheese within their “zone.”

COVID-19’s Effect on the Market

Buyers:

The American Cheese Society surveyed cheese shops across the country about their experience dealing with the pandemic in 2020.

The infographic to the left outlines some of the key findings from that survey.

• Money was lost in sales because people were not spending extra cash on cheese.

• People were not eating at restaurants.

• Shops and businesses had to apply for loans.

• Employees were furloughed, laid-off, or had their hours cut.

From my interviews:

• Staffing is still an issue because skilled workers take time to train, burnout caused employees to leave, and many did not come back after being let go in the first place.

• Educating is key! mongers have to keep profits going by treating the product properly and knowing how to sell it.

 Competitive Analysis

The Monger

The Monger is no longer being worked on. Two Editors at Culture Magazine had the same idea. They started working on a wholesale cheese buying software about ten years ago and shut down operations in 2021.

Lucky for me, the CEO/ Owner of the company agreed to speak with me and tell me what he learned from the experience.

• Distribution is key. They are the biggest players in the industry and have the most hesitation. Make sure you work with them to collect data and help their business thrive.

• It is really hard to keep information updated.

• Funding is hard in this industry. Wine has great platforms because they have a lot more money. When you talk to investors, make sure you have your market research ready.

• Look into plugging for accounting software but make it flexible for producers to use their own systems.

Key features:

• Add to cart (e-commerce experience)

• Messaging

• Live tracking (See where your truck is)

• Sales Analytics

• Usage analytics

• Use CRMs to keep up with the market

 Gourmet Food International

GFI is a large scale high end food distributor that specializes in cheese.

They have a mobile app for their own company with the intention to streamline orders, organize data and have direct communication with their reps and buyers.

Key Features:

• order items on the app with an e-commerce experience of adding to cart.

• Tracking orders (map of trucks, notifications about arrival times and distribution hick-ups)

• Search

• Budgeting

• Messaging

• Analytics

• Lists

• Filtering

• Item sorting. by price and or availability

Key Features:

Mobile access for business on the go!

Key Features from the buyers’ prospective:

Below are the features on the buyers’ account page. Buyers have a homepage that is specified to their needs and expectations.

Key Features for Searching and Ordering Products

Buyers can filter through specific needs for their business and buy directly on the platform from distributors or producers.

Producer Portal

 SevenFifty Has Portals Specifically for Distributors as well as Producers (Producers also have the capability to distribute themselves)

First Two Personas:

The Buyer & The Cheesemaker

As I begin to build my designs for this project, I want to start with the target audience I know the most about. Eventually, I want to make personas and build flows for each part of the market but, for now I am starting with the buyers and producers.

Charly Andersen:

Problem:

Charly needs to order a couple new cheeses before the holiday season. He is new to the cheese buying business but knows he needs to order them quickly so they arrive in time for the busy season. Charly feels he is getting buried in emails these days and is missing crucial information from his reps about transportation issues in the supply chain.

At the same time, Charly is working hard on education for his team. Many of them are new to the industry because of COVID, and while they are enthusiastic, there is still a lot for them to learn.

Charly needs a platform where he can place orders, keep track of orders, communicate with his reps and producers, and learn more about new products so he can educate his staff.

Jim Hartley:

Problem:

Jim is trying to gearing up for the holiday orders. All year he has been working to expand his business in the US by networking with new distributors and buyers. However, now that most of this type of networking is remote, he needs to find a way to access more distributors and buyers from a distance.

He is very proud of his products because they are made with quality ingredients and attention to detail. Jim is aware that there is a large shortage of skilled cheesemongers in the US at the moment, and without the ability to give out samples, his cheese is moving a bit slow. He wants to have more control over the narrative of his cheese so he knows it is being marketed correctly by mongers.

Jim needs a way to have control over his product and brand once it leaves his facility and enters the retail space. He also needs a way to expand his network and find distributors.