Smile for the camera and say cheese!
In 2020, that old cliché took on a new meaning for entrepreneurial cheesemongers and makers nationwide who, faced with the pandemic’s unprecedented hit to business, did a quick pivot and introduced a new service: Online cheese tastings and classes.
To the delight of some of these impromptu video producers, what started as a makeshift effort to help keep afloat in hard times has quickly proven itself to be a viable new revenue stream. While some virtual events have been ticketed and open to the public, the most lucrative opportunity has proven to be private events, with “student bodies” ranging from small groups of 15 friends and family members to corporate celebrations with hundreds Zoomed in from dozens of locations.
“Our first virtual class was the third week of March,” notes Kendall Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Austin, Texas. By early December, “we’d had over 14,000 participants.” Brad Hedeman, who oversees the mail-order operations at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which recently started to offer virtual tastings says “This is something that’s emerged during the pandemic that is not going to go away. Customers love it.”
