Culture Magazine

BEGINNINGS 2024 culturecheesemag.com 15 VOICINGS a bit with our packaging area, warehousing, and an extra couple vats. CM: So, if someone were to build a new facility today, they would not be allowed to build it in that same way. Joe: That's correct. CM: And how does that impact your decision to expand? Do you want to continue producing at the capacity your current facility can handle? Joe: Well, I stuck with it but it's up to these guys if they want to modernize. So far, we have stayed this way, but that's entirely up to them. I'll be 68 in January, so what they want to do is their business. They're probably getting a little sick of me butting my nose in once and a while. It's up to them. CM: Joey, do you have any thoughts on that? Joey: Yeah, I mean, I would like to make it more ergonomic. Especially in today's society, I think people are less willing to do hands-on labor or work that is difficult from a physical perspective. So, I think that will continue to be a challenge. CM: So that might mean trying to streamline production? Joey: Yeah. There are a lot of other jobs available where someone can pay just as much and probably not work as hard physically. I think every cheesemaker kind of has the same issue, from what I hear from friends in the industry. CM: Finding that scale that works for your bottom line, physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, and a production standpoint is still a bit of a mystery. Joey: I think so. I try to make sure that I have other outside hobbies, and on the weekends I try to distance myself from the business so I get a break. I realize that in the past that probably wasn't the case here. My grandpa and great uncles were probably here every day, but I think there's been a big shift in how people want to live their lives and, you know, have free time and everything. We try to provide that for our employees as well. CM: I love that you brought that up. Joey, you're currently living in the apartment above the facility, so you must be very intentional about getting that separation from work. Joey: Yeah, I try to look at the positive aspects of it. And one of the positive things is that because of how early the start time is, I don't have to get up as early to be at work. CM: Right. You can't beat the commute. Joey: You can't. But the negative aspect is that you don't get that 15- or 20-minute drive that a normal person would have to and from their job to decompress. And then in my circumstance, if there's other stuff that needs to be done and I remember it at 5:30 or 6:00 at night, odds are that I'm back down here trying to finish it. Joe: Every family lived above the factory at one point. We lived up there until Joey and my daughter were eight and two years old, and then we built a house and [the apartment] was empty for a while. Now, Joey's the fourth generation living above the plant. Sometimes, yeah, it's too close to work. CM: This question is for both of you since you were both raised by cheesemakers. Some kids are excited to follow in their family's footsteps, while others yearn to chart their own path. When you were a young child, did you envision the day you'd take over the family business, or did it come to you later in life? Joe: I'm somewhat surprised. I had other interests. In high school my dad said, "You want to make cheese or go to school." That was in the seventies—I had a ponytail. I said, "Neither. I'm sick of school, I'm sick of cheese." So, I went and worked on the railroad for a couple years. And when I'd come home, my dad didn't push me, but he encouraged me to get a degree in food science. I thought that was a good idea, so I went to college, and I've been here ever since. Joey: I always had other interests as well—mostly conservation and wildlife stuff. I went to college for business and worked at a couple of other places and ended up coming back here because the business always needed help. When I came back, I got more and more involved. And before I knew it, I'm going on my 10th year full time. Joe: I might add, if Joey wanted to leave, he could leave pretty easily because he got a Master's in Business Administration. Joey: Yeah, but I do take pride in the name and quality product we have. There are times I consider doing something else, but this is what I'm doing now, and I'm doing the best I can with the tools I have. CM: Do you have any hopes for the next 100 years of Widmer's—if that's not too far out to envision? Joey: If we can maintain what we have and keep it sustainable without drastic changes to the product, that would be good. Keep the tradition but make small modernizations that would make my life simpler—for the employees as well. But as far as 100 years go, I'm taking it a decade at a time. c John and his brother Ralph Widmer removing brick cheese that spent eight hours soaking in a salt brine.

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