Confectionery

In 2016, I considered incorporating aged cheese into a caramel recipe, whipped up a test batch, and it was a flavorful hit! This was the incentive to launch Gruyere AOP Cheese Caramels, a savory, sweet, umami caramel.

For one year, I worked on streamlining production of the caramel for scalable manufacturing. I researched and identified a co-packing partner to adopt the recipe so we could focus on sales and expansion of the product line. Since then, we’ve developed two other flavors - Cheddar and Smoked Gouda.

Through my cheese industry connections, I identified the specialty food market for the caramel and grew the client base to over 50 wholesale accounts, and counting. We now sell to Whole Foods during the holiday season, and we continue to expand our reach while decreasing costs.