A love for cheese, recognized

WATERLOO, Wis.      — Debbie Crave is no stranger to promoting and educating others about cheese. As proof, Crave was recently inducted into the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, an internationally respected organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the art and tradition of cheesemaking.

“I’m honored to have been selected,” Debbie said. “I was surprised. I had been hopeful, and it was just really fun to have my name read, especially because my daughter and husband and other industry people who we know and love were there.”

Debbie has helped grow her family’s farmstead cheese business, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, and place its products in thousands of stores across the nation. Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese is a multigenerational, family-owned business located across the road from the family dairy farm.  The Craves milk approximately 2,200 cows in a 60-stall rotary parlor.       More than two-thirds of their milk is sent to their farmstead cheese plant to make more than 70 products, including fresh mozzarella and mascarpone. .

Debbie was inducted       into Guilde Internationale des Fromagers’ New World Chapter, which includes about 400 inductees from Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States. The chapter was established in 2012 as a branch of the original European organization. The induction honors cheese professionals who help keep      cheesemaking traditions alive.

Debbie’s husband, George, was inducted when the New World Chapter began. Debbie had hoped the opportunity would come for her, too. It did at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York      June 29, when she was surprised with the announcement. Cathy Strange, who nominated Debbie and serves as president of the chapter, presented the award.

“We want to appreciate all the work you have done not only for your organization, for dairy in Wisconsin, for the vision around sustainability and energy development,” Strange said.          “I know that all comes from the      heart. T     hank you for what you’ve done.”

Debbie, a founder of her family’s cheese business,      has stepped into more of a brand ambassador role, helping from time to time at food shows and other industry events.

That included working the booth at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, where daughter Roseanne Crave, now part of the family ownership, told her she was coming to help represent the company at the show. Roseanne had arranged for Debbie to attend without Debbie knowing she would be surprised with the induction.

Debbie describes herself as part cheese monger and cheesemaker, combining cheese promotion with hands-on involvement in the family business.     

“(Inductees are the kind of) people who love the cheese story, who live, breathe, eat, and make cheese,” Debbie said. “(They) can keep on talking it up, not just the nutrition and great food addition to your plate, but the whole history and tradition, because we have wonderful cheese in Wisconsin and we’re still telling that artisan-making story, plus we love promoting the farmstead story.”

But for Debbie, promoting cheese is about more than sharing the story of her own farmstead cheese company. It is also about helping consumers understand the broader traditions and people behind the cheese industry.

“That’s what the guild is about; it’s not just about you,” she said. “It’s about traditions, honoring professionals around the world. It’s a global non-profit to promote and connect the work of cheese professionals everywhere.”

Award-winning cheeses and industry recognition are no strangers to the Crave family’s cheese business.

“It is a true honor to have both our cheeses and our people recognized on an international stage,” said Roseanne, who leads sales and marketing efforts. “Debbie’s career, dedication, and contributions have played an important role in building Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese and our brand into what it is today.”

Through her work in the cheese industry, Debbie has also built relationships with cheesemakers and dairy farmers around the world, often with her family by her side.

“It’s a great little network,” Debbie said. “When we started making cheese, George was a dairy farmer first and foremost, and he loved the whole farmer network. We walked into a cheese show together once and he said, ‘Oh no, I don’t know anyone. OK, I’ll just pretend this is World Dairy Expo.’ I said, ‘Yes, this is what it’s like.’ It’s still a network of cheesemakers, just like World Dairy Expo is a network of dairy farmers. We’re all friendly, we share as much as we can, we support each other.”

Those relationships have also led to opportunities to travel, learn and connect with cheesemakers and farmers around the world, from visiting the Isigny Sainte-Mère cheese aging room in Normandy, France, to touring a Piave cheese factory in Italy with Francesco Veronese, who has also visited Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese.     

“I love cheese,” Debbie said. “I didn’t know there were so many wonderful varieties, so now whenever George and I travel, whether it’s in the U.S. or overseas, we try to visit a farm or grocery store. If we’re overseas, we try to meet a cheesemaker, for example, or a dairy farmer, and learn more because it’s just fascinating. You can be in a cave; you can be in a little farmstead place.”

Those experiences have also given the Crave family a firsthand look at changing consumer preferences and trends in the cheese industry, helping guide the family and employees as they continue to grow and evolve the business.

“One trend we’ve seen is increased demand for fresh mozzarella throughout the entire year,” Roseanne said. “It was once much more seasonal, with demand peaking during the summer and fresh tomato season, but consumers are now enjoying it year-round.”

Another trend is increased demand for several of their additional artisan cheeses.

“We’ve also seen increased demand for mascarpone in the retail space as consumers become more interested in incorporating it into recipes at home,”      Roseanne said. “Another growing area is Hispanic-style cheeses, which has positively impacted our private-label partnerships for Oaxaca cheese. Overall, consumers continue to explore new ways to use specialty cheeses in their everyday cooking.”

Through traveling and connecting with cheesemakers and dairy farmers around the world, Debbie continues to learn about new traditions while honoring the history of cheesemaking. For her, those connections and opportunities to learn are what make the cheese industry so rewarding.