By Madison Berry, Agricultural Development Specialist
Northeast cheesemakers know they have a special product – but how do they tell the world about it?
That was the question that Jasper Hill Creamery and Masterful Storytelling, Inc. sought to answer. A $150,000 award from NE-DBIC’s 2023 Dairy Processing Research & Development Innovation Grant helped them do it, resulting in The Vermont Cheddar Project. Masterful Storytelling, founded by Adam Davidson – who’s known for his journalism work on NPR’s Planet Money, The New Yorker, and This American Life – brought both economic insights and powerful storytelling skills to the project.
This large endeavor straddled the line between marketing and agritourism, and brought together four cheesemakers: Jasper Hill Creamery, Plymouth Cheese, Grafton Village Cheese, and Vermont Farmstead Cheese. The goal: to help Vermont cheesemakers communicate just what made their cheese, and their farms, so special. The target: high end cheesemongers, chefs, and food critics. The Cheddar Project aimed to get VT cheese into the hands of food influencers, and to get those influencers to the farms themselves.
Davidson guided the cheesemakers through a process to identify and articulate their value proposition as Vermont Cheddar makers. This began by identifying the terroir of Vermont cheddar. Typically applied to wine, terroir is defined as “the combination of factors including soil, climate, and sunlight that gives a crop its distinctive character.” For The Cheddar Project, that meant not just the grazing environment or milk quality – it also meant the culture of Vermont and its cheesemakers.
Masterful Storytelling worked with stakeholders and cheese professionals throughout the state to figure out just what the terroir of Vermont cheddar had to offer. They also brought in graduate students from both Cornell University and the University of Vermont’s Sustainable Innovation MBA program, who helped ideate models for cooperative campaigning. Through this connection, the cheesemakers also benefited from one-on-one business development consulting with the MBA students.
Once they had the groundwork, the team launched three core agritourism projects.
The first was the Vermont Cheese Tours, paired with the April 2024 solar eclipse. Top food critics and media professionals attended tours, guided tastings, and one-on-one opportunities to speak with the cheesemakers themselves. The networking turned out to be the most impactful. Maddie Johnston of Jasper Hill Creamery reported that “survey results from the guests indicated that the personal experiences with cheese makers and experts were more impactful than the beauty of Vermont or the cheese by itself.” In fact, one of the journalists who took part in the tours turned his experience into an article for Civil Eats, showcasing the impact and importance of supporting local dairies.
Next were Cheddar Tasting events in New York City for chefs, buyers, tastemakers, and industry professionals. The Taste of Place-themed events zeroed in on modern cheesemakers as the product of centuries of Vermont dairy traditions. NYC tastemakers offered glowing feedback—on the cheese and the events.
Finally, the cheesemakers convened for a public presentation with a hands-on tasting event at Plymouth Cheese. Dozens of late September leaf peepers got their fill of tasty cheese while learning about more ways to engage with Vermont dairy in future years.
The personal touch and direct-to-influencer marketing paid off for all the cheesemakers involved with the culmination of a Vermont Cheddar Project cheese box.
The collection of cheese from five participating creameries sold over 360 boxes in the 2024 holiday season, sending a taste of Vermont all over the country. The key takeaway? Collaboration amongst cheesemakers helped increase revenue and exposure, all while maintaining independence by selling from their own platforms.
Beyond the sales success, the cheesemakers gained valuable storytelling skills from Davidson, who’s journalistic background and experience across radio and print brought decades of knowledge to the group. “I personally milked the opportunity for direct access to Davidson as a mentor and consultant,” said Zoe Brickley of Jasper Hill. These storytelling skills continue to guide the cheesemakers’ marketing efforts.
The Cheddar Project pilot demonstrates a model that could be replicated in other states. Working collectively across the state made for a stronger project than individual efforts. Maddie Johnston notes that “The project created a structure for cheesemakers to work together on agritourism efforts. . . [tastemakers] told us that the story of Vermont cheese was richer as a part of the larger artisanal food industry that is growing in Vermont.”
And the personal, low-cost marketing efforts of tastings and tours represents a model that Vermont cheddar brands could gain exposure to more buyers. Bringing the terroir of cheddar to buyers proved to be a huge—and delicious—success.
You can read more and watch a video of The Cheddar Project on Jasper Hill’s website.
