Author Archives: Monroe Cheese Studio

ACS Providence 2015 Day 2

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Friday began with an early morning meeting among the different Cheese Guilds to talk about the work that the Guilds do and where the Guilds and ACS can help each other. I was very disappointed with the discussion last year and had heard that this year the ACS Board had identified that defining and strengthening the connection between the regional Guilds and the national organization was a priority. One of the newest members on the Board (Vern Caldwell from the Oregon Cheese Guild) had tasked himself the job of coordinating this effort.

After introductions (in which there were quite a few announcements of brand new or fairly new Guilds being formed in Washington State, the Rocky Mountains, and Pennsylvania) ACS Executive Director Nora Weiser explained that ACS wanted to be careful not to overreach in their relationship with the Guilds to make sure the Guilds did not feel manipulated by ACS. Unfortunately she could stay for only 30 minutes of the long-scheduled one hour meeting in which many of the Guilds asked for MORE collaboration with ACS, especially in a way that would help justify the $199 annual individual membership cost for cheese makers in the Guilds.
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ACS Providence 2015 Day 1

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And we’re off!

Following a warm walk up to the convention center we sat down to a Vermont Pancake Breakfast (sponsored by the VT Cheese Council) with made to order pancakes and VT maple syrup “shots” on the table. We sat with a pair of guys from The Loan Grazer Creamery in Minneapolis, MF (yes! right in the City) and talked string cheese.

The keynote speaker for the conference was Mark Canlis is a Seattle restaurateur who is NOT a cheese maker (one of the first points he made) but who wanted us to step back from the “rules” of food and cheese making and take a look at the concept and history of “hospitality.” Canlis believes passionately that he is in the business of relationships and trust and that it’s important for all of us to ask us AND our employees “Who are you becoming?” and “Who do you want to become?” And it’s only through this kind of awareness of our true goals that we can succeed in business and in life. In the midst of his talk he staged a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament that illustrated the power of support and positive belief in Others (which ties into the history of Hospitality) for both you that other person.
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ACS Providence 2105 Day 0

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It’s arrival day at the 32nd annual American Cheese Society Conference, this year back on the East Coast in Providence, RI. The current mayor, Jorge o. Elorza welcomed us to “America’s Favorite City” (according to Travel + Leisure Magazine) in the front pages of our conference book.

I arrived mid-afternoon after a relatively traffic-free drive south, and I am all set up in an AirBnB at the south end of downtown which will allow me 15 minutes walking each way to help burn off the cheese calories.

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We met up with a few of the other MCG members who are attending the conference this year at the Providence Coal Fired Pizza Co. for some excellent slices and few glasses of suds. We are able to meet a long lost Guilder, Louella Hill, at the restaurant who is now a board member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild and has just published a book called Kitchen Creamery. She was helping the Narragansett Creamery with their cheese display as part of the ACS conference “Pub Crawl” which apparently included the PCFP Co. on their map, as we eventually saw many ACS badges appearing around the necks of patrons.

The few “oldsters” (Caitlin, Jesse, and I) dispensed wisdom and advice during dinner, while the youngsters soaked it all in. I hope they are ready for their 7:45am breakfast and then keynote tomorrow morning!