The past two years have made it difficult to get excited about anything. Cancellations, closures and restrictions have impacted all of us in one way or another, but the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic have not been all bad.
Many local businesses have experienced an outpouring of support from their communities as people have rallied to keep them afloat during turbulent times.
Canadian artisan cheesemakers have seen their operations shift over the past two years and are ushering in their own changes to tap into new opportunities.
Two cheesemakers who have modified how they operate under ongoing restrictions and changes in consumer behaviour are Cherryville, British Columbia’s Triple Island Farms and Back Forty Artisan Cheese, located in Mississippi Station, Ontario. Both businesses specialize in raw milk cheeses with an emphasis on sourcing locally produced milk that fulfills the needs of their niche markets.
In response to customer comments, Triple Island Farms is working to expand their reach and offer deliveries of their Dutch-inspired cheeses throughout parts of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley and beyond. Photo provided by Rodger Wohlgemuth.Triple Island Farms changed hands in the spring of 2021 when former beekeeper Rodger Wohlgemuth and his wife moved from Manitoba. They purchased the company from its original owners and have since taken over operations to learn the art of cheesemaking.
In 2011, Jeff Fenwick and his wife, Jenna, also new to cheesemaking at the time, took ownership of Back Forty Artisan Cheese from its founder and later relocated to their current location on the banks of Canada’s Mississippi River. They have been growing the business ever since.
Reflecting upon his start in cheesemaking, Fenwick says, “We spent a lot of time digging into [cheesemaking], researching, making large batches and learning as we went along. I was fortunate to work with the previous owner for a while as well, so we learned some of the foundation from him.”
Fenwick has built Back Forty’s business model around remaining a niche, small market, independent business.
“The big grocery chains we don’t have much of an interest in because [distributing cheese to them] becomes more about volume and quantity over quality. Right now, we’re happy with our scale. We have a few employees, and our focus is on trying to make really good-quality cheese and not only pumping out mass volumes of cheese,” he says.
To supply their operation, Back Forty Artisan Cheese has formed partnerships with five local farms to source the raw pasture-raised sheep’s milk Fenwick uses as the base in many of his cheeses. Fenwick also produces fresh mozzarella seasonally, using water buffalo milk sourced from a Quebec farm. “We use a really high-quality milk, and that’s the backbone of our operation,” he notes.
Using raw pasture-raised sheep’s milk from five local farms, Jeff Fenwick and his team at Back Forty Artisan Cheese produce unique artisan cheese like their Highland Blue. Photo courtesy of Back Forty Artisan Cheese.Where Back Forty relies on relationships with local farms, Triple Island Farms sources their milk through the BC Milk Marketing Board. Wohlgemuth says after the previous owners ceased sourcing milk from their own cows, they found a farm through the marketing board which aligned with their goals to use unpasteurized, grass-fed milk, and this single farm continues to be the source of milk for their cheeses.
Wohlgemuth says he has noticed changing customer sentiments as life in a pandemic continues to evolve. His focus has been on adapting his business to better serve consumer demands and return it to its pre-pandemic capacity.
“We aren’t up to where we were before COVID, but we do see many opportunities. [We are looking into offering] a delivery system to the north Okanagan region. That’s one thing we’re trying to do, due to the changing sentiments of customers who don’t want to come out and shop as much, so we would like to be able to ship or deliver cheese to them, promptly,” Wohlgemuth says.
Fenwick has also been working on adapting his operation to better accommodate his customers. For a large part of the past two years, the company’s small tasting room has been closed due to social distancing and capacity restrictions. To re-introduce on-site customer experiences, Back Forty has constructed an outdoor kitchen, equipped with a wood-fired pizza oven and grill which will be operated by a highly regarded chef who has joined their team.
As they look to further establish themselves as an agritourism destination, Back Forty also has plans to open parts of their land to welcome people year-round on cross country ski and snowshoe trails.
As part of their expansion, Triple Island Farms has been looking for new ways to engage with customers on- and off-site. They have expanded sales to many local farmers’ markets and are keen to enter new markets in nearby areas like Vernon, Kelowna and Revelstoke. Wohlgemuth hopes that this spring they will be able to reopen the company’s former storefront and once again market directly to their customers through their own retail location. Additionally, they are taking advantage of virtual options, offering online ordering and a customer newsletter.
With a focus on fresh ingredients and local distribution, both Triple Island Farms and Back Forty Artisan Cheese are listening to their customers and their changing needs, allowing their feedback to help them dictate a new direction for their businesses so they can continue to produce the high-quality, artisan cheeses they have built their reputations on.
