Co-founder, Vermont Butter & Cheese Company
www.butterandcheese.net

Gotta love it when a launching story inspires cravings for crusty bread and creamy artisanal cheese.

Launched by Allison Hooper and Bob Reese, the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company makes European-style products like chevre, creamy goat cheese, fromage blanc, mascarpone and French-style cultured butter.

Considered to be the creme-de-la-creme, some of Allison’s products have won top awards, most recently at the 2007 U.S. Cheese Championships in Wisconsin and the 2007 World Cheese Awards in London. Her products are also served in top restaurants such as Daniel, Jean Georges, Blue Hill and CityZen, and sold by retailers like Whole Foods and iGourmet.com.

Here Allison dishes about how to serve cheese at a soiree and talks about growing the company from scratch to about $7.5 million in annual sales…

Falling in Love in France

Allison: “I was a French major at Connecticut College and lived in Paris for a semester. I found an internship in Brittany on a farm where they had sheep and goats and cows and pigs, and they made several varieties of cheeses, butter, creme fraiche and fromage blanc… many of the products that we make today.

“It was love at first sight. I loved the lifestyle, the making of the cheese and thought ‘Americans need this.’ It was the early 80’s and Americans weren’t really eating goat cheese and creme fraiche.”

Meeting Her Business Partner by Chance

“Having grown up in New Jersey, I made my way to Vermont. Bob (Reese), my partner, and I were both working at the Vermont Department of Agriculture. He was a marketing director and I was working in the dairy lab. Bob was putting together a dinner for a chef where he was using all Vermont products and the chef was looking for goat cheese. At the time you couldn’t really buy goat cheese anywhere in Vermont.

“I made the cheese for the dinner and was invited to the dinner. Bob and I sat at a table together - we didn’t know each other very well. Chefs started coming up to me and giving me their cards saying that they wanted to buy the cheese. Bob’s wife, Sandy, was sitting at the table with us and said, ‘Why don’t you and Allison start a cheese business?’”

Little Money, Lots of Naivete

“Bob and I both had $1200 (to invest). Talk about incredible naivete. I was 25 and he was 27. We had no idea what we were getting into. He had an MBA in finance and accounting, but in terms of owning and operating a business, we had no idea what we were doing.

“We took our $2400 and were able to get a loan from a small revolving loan fund (for agricultural activities) from the United Church of Christ. We went to a commercial bank, borrowed $10,000 and were able to retrofit an existing milk house, a little building that’s attached to a dairy farm where the milk is stored. We put a cheese vat in and a boiler to pasteurize the milk.”

From Not Much in Sales to $7.5 Million

“The first year we were in business, we did $16,000 in sales - now we’re at $7.5 million (annually). It was the mid 80’s when we launched and being the first to market has its advantages and disadvantages. There wasn’t any competition - only a half dozen of us around the country were making goat cheese.The disadvantage was that Americans didn’t eat goat cheese.”

Targeting Elite Niche Market

“We were trying to launch a product that was virtually unknown to the American market, and we didn’t have the finances to do a big marketing campaign to educate consumers. What we ended up doing required us to focus on a very targeted customer - we targeted French chefs in New York.

“We knew that they would know this product. They would understand creme fraiche and chevre and fromage blanc. Selling to these restaurants - that’s where we spent most of our activity for the first 10 years of the business.”

Tight Budget? Look on the Bright Side

“The fact that we didn’t have any money was a good thing because we didn’t spend it. It made us really cut to the chase when it came to allocating resources - the real priorities became clear. We weren’t deluding ourselves thinking we could be in every retail shop in the Northeast and support those relationships, or buy advertising and build a brand. The early days were selling based on our personal relationships with our customers. We didn’t get confused thinking we could be all things to all people.”

Becoming Bigger by Finding Distributors

“At the time in the 80’s… the American dollar was pretty strong and so there was a lot of import activity of fine European cheeses. And then all of a sudden, the dollar fell and imported cheeses became more expensive and more difficult to import because of regulatory issues, worries about food safety with raw milk cheeses and so forth. The importers and distributors were looking for domestic suppliers. That was a big advantage to us. We went to the New York Fancy Food Show in ‘88 and we signed up six new distributor customers.”

Greatest Challenge - Mastering It All

“Many times in business you’re either a manufacturer or a marketer, and we’re both, and that’s hard. You have your operations, with many, many needs, including financial and human resources. Cheesemaking is hard work, so we try to be good employers and a good place to work. But that’s required some vigilance, really making it a priority.

“Then you have your market, which is another master. The market is much more demanding than it was 20 years ago. Consumers have high expectations, especially when they buy something that’s expensive.”

Coming Soon: New Brand of Cheeses?

“We are looking at possibly developing a brand that doesn’t change the character of our company. In the trades, the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company has a positive brand image. We think the potential for the kinds of products that we make is really pretty big. We see Americans eating a lot more cheese and having a huge, growing interest in cheese.”

Try This: Fromage Blanc for Breakfast or Lunch

“One of our products, fromage blanc, is made with skim milk - it contains no fat, is low in calories and high in protein. I eat it every day with fruit for my lunch. In France, this is the product that every woman eats every day to stay thin - it’s filling and it’s good for you. Right now (fromage blanc) is a small business for us, but it’s the kind of product that has a lot of potential.”

How To Create a Delicious Cheese Board

“If you’re going to have a cheese board, do a service of no more than five cheeses - three cheeses is good. It’s always nice to have a variety - you might have a sheep’s milk, a goat’s milk, a hard cheese and semi-soft cheese. A variety of textures and kinds of milk is always good.”

Simple Tip for Pairing Wine with Cheese

“In terms of pairing wines with cheeses, there are no hard and fast rules. People must never be intimidated by serving cheese because they don’t know what wine to serve with it.

“In general, pairing white wines with cheese is always easier than pairing red wines with cheese. With red wine, if it’s complex or has lots of tannins - it can be hard to pair cheese with that, whereas white wines go well with cheese. Very fresh goat cheese goes well with a light crisp wine like Sauvignon Blanc. Your chances of making a good pairing with a white wine is better than with a red wine.”

Recommended Resource

“From the financing side, the SBA has been a great thing for us. We wouldn’t have qualified for any loans early on had we not had SBA guarantees. We’re the poster child for every state-sponsored business financing package available through economic development authorities - we had a (state loan) based on the expansion of our building. It’s worth it to take the time to find out what you’re eligible for.”

Got Kids? Stop Beating Yourself Up about Balance

“I have two 13-year-olds and a 15-year-old. You always feel like you’re doing both things (running a business and raising a family) not too well. When you’re at the office, you’ll feel guilty and say, ‘I don’t have time to help my kids with their homework.’ When you’re with the kids, it’s ‘I’m not spending enough time on my business and should be doing all these things, but I’m not doing them.’

“You can spend more energy beating yourself up than accepting that this is your life and you’re going to do the best that you can.”

Words of Advice: ‘Plan Something, as Audacious as It May Seem’

“The thing that I’m reminded of all the time is the saying ‘Failure to plan is planning to fail.’ Plan something, as audacious as it may seem, and put one foot in front of the other and don’t be distracted by the voice on your shoulder saying, ‘What are you thinking? You can’t do this.’”