Seeing as it is American Cheese Month and we’re in America’s Dairyland, it’s only fitting that we highlight some of the great cheese factories around the state. One of those being Renard’s Cheese in Door County.
The owner of the company, Chris Renard who is also a Master Cheesemaker, took some time to share the history of Renard’s and how it became the well-known place it is today. Renard’s began back in 1961 when his grandparents bought Rosewood Dairy after his Grandpa Howard had been making cheese since he was 13-years-old. Fast-forwarding to 1966, Chris’ dad Gary bought Cloverleaf Dairy, and then eventually the two decided to join forces and create what they have today.
Like most families that own a business, it didn’t take long for Chris to start helping out as well. “I would go down and help dad, I would wash the milk cans as they’d come in. That was my job. At an early age a part of growing up in our family was that you came back into the factory and helped out,” Chris explained that when he was a teenager his attitude towards the factory changed, “If you would’ve asked me in high school I swore I was never coming back to make cheese.” He went off to college and eventually his dad planned on retiring so he and his wife Ann chose to go back and moved home in 1995.
One of the special things about Renard’s is that they’re a family business through and through. Chris and Ann fully took over all aspects of the factory in 2014 and since then they continue to grow. Both have their separate strong suits, Chris is more of the cheesemaking and recipes, while Ann keeps everything together. In Chris’s words, she’s the glue of the business. “It’s a family business. My grandfather and grandmother did it, my mom and dad did it, my wife and I are now doing it. We also have the support of our family and my daughters help out in the business. It’s something that we’ve all grown up in,” Chris said.
The family aspect goes beyond the factory because it starts with the farms that supply them with the milk. “Currently we have 24 area farms. All family farms, small family farms. So they’ve grown up in that farming business, they care about their animals, and the milk they produce is the highest quality,” Chris explained why that is, “At a lot of our farms, the cows are not numbers, they’re pets. They have names. They don’t number their animals…They treat them just like pets, just like family. It shows in the quality of the milk that we receive.”
Chris mentioned the fact that his job isn’t only being conscious about the family, but also about conservation. He explained that for every ten pounds of milk, you get about one pound of cheese and that the other nine pounds have to go somewhere. That leftover milk is whey and cream, which is separated and the cream is sold to Pine River Dairy to use for butter, while the whey goes to Milk Specialties where they make whey proteins out of it. This way none of the dairy used to make their cheese goes to waste.
He brought up the fact that there are opportunities for people to become master cheesemakers through Renard’s, it’s not an impossible goal. The company has an apprenticeship program. Chris said that they’ll have people come in and if they start out and have an interest in making cheese, they’ll get promoted. He explained that many other cheese factories will do a similar program, but he’d love to have passionate people. “If you’ve got the passion to make cheese and you’ve got the desire to produce a great product, I’ll take you through our apprenticeship program,” but it doesn’t stop there, “We’ll give you all of the training you need, all the work, all the hours, and then we’ll promote you to become a licensed cheesemaker.” Renard’s apprenticeship program is a two-year commitment, but a great opportunity.
If you’re going to learn how to make cheese, you might as well do in America’s Dairyland. Chris gave some of the reasons it only makes sense to learn in this state. “Wisconsin is the dairy state. It is the state that promotes everything dairy…The dairy state in Wisconsin does not want to see anyone fail, we help everybody out. We have the strictest grading regulations in the United States and the FDA follows Wisconsin’s grading regulations.” Not to mention, the state of Wisconsin is one of the few states that requires licensed cheesemakers. Do you need another reason to be a Wisconsin cheesemaker?
To hear the full interview with Chris Renard, check out our podcast page.
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