Transparency and Gratitude 2023
Thank you… for each and every time you purchased something from us, liked or shared a social media post, read or forwarded our newsletter, referred us to a friend or your company, or just brought our name up in a conversation this year, thank you. It has sustained us. It matters. And this locally-owned, independent mom and pop business thanks you. So read more about our transparency and gratitude 2023.
This year has been a whirlwind of sorts for our business - trying to come up with a post-pandemic business model that works, and you’ve been by our sides through it all. The biggest news for our biz? We launched a new vision in the spring - and that included giving you more of what you’re asking for: more events and tastings, more trays, more access to our cheese club. So we set about in search of the next right space for us that would allow us to reach more good, cheese-loving folks. Over six months later, we finally found a new location and signed a lease, but we couldn’t just let the cat out of the bag. We hosted a citywide scavenger hunt to reveal the new location. While we planned for a max of 125 to participate (if we were “wildly successful"), we had no idea over 300 of you would be standing outside our shop before the hunt started at 11am (despite competing with the UT game!). THANK YOU! Thank you not only for showing up to support us - time and time again, but for your grace while we worked through those growing pains. I personally got to hustle with our 11-year old son at the finish line, giving out free cheese and replenishing cheese trays as quickly as I could, and it was an overwhelming joy that just shocked us. The feelings took John and me straight back to our first opening day in Austin. (Here’s a post-hunt video we exhaustedly posted to social media, when I’m speechless and ugly crying.) And yes. Yes! We are scheduled to open a NEW TASTING ROOM in early 2024 on South Lamar! We’ll be in the Lamar Union Complex, alongside other iconic and locally-owned businesses like Alamo Drafthouse, Lick Honest Ice Creams, Cafe Medici Roasting, and Tiny Pies (ahem, all of which were scavenger hunt destinations around town - get it?!). We are excited, anxious, filled with both anticipation and self-doubt…but we are overwhelmingly ready to experience what this new phase has to offer us and you. When we need you, you always show up and support us. We’ll need you in a big way this holiday season, as well as through our new opening - and we know we can count on you. And for that, we are truly, deeply grateful.
I also have to thank our makers, harvesters, producers, and vendors who work the land, take care of their animals, and are building better places to work for their teams. We don’t make anything; they do. It’s our pleasure to tell their stories and their labors of love. We also owe gratitude to many of the unsung heroes of our industry - from truck drivers, to service providers, to our mail person, to the desk job folks like those who process our orders, bankers, and more: we appreciate you. Since I’m feeling gracious, I’ll throw in an appreciation to the City of Austin folks - the health inspectors and permitting office, as well as TABC folks, and others who don’t always have the glamorous job but without whom, we simply could not do business.
And to our team: whew. Feeling emotional today. Suffice it to say, you make this biz happen. You are our frontline smile to a customer. You pick up both the good customer service calls, as well as the challenging ones. You epitomize what it means to be hospitable, warm, welcoming, service-minded, and more. Thanks for not only keeping our reputation up, but continually daily, with every small act, making our brand what it is today.
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As is now tradition, I present with our annual “Do Good. Eat Good.” mission report. Because of your support, we’ve been able to contribute to the following organizations this year… even when we haven’t met our financial goals. Awesome! Way to go everyone; let’s keep it up. Side story: In 2018 when we were struggling from the financial loss of our downtown concept, a vendor said to John, “Maybe if you spent less time doing stuff for your community and more time focusing on your business, you wouldn’t be in this mess.” We talk about that a lot. Should we do things differently? And what we keep coming back to is that if we can’t do business the way we want to, then it isn’t worth being in business. While we can always aim to do more, we’re proud of this list. These are just the nonprofit organizations that received outright donations and support from us this year. We also offer 10% discounts to every nonprofit that asks for them. (Also note, we do some stuff behind the scenes, but we don’t feel like talking about that - hoping our actions will someday speak for themselves.)
American Cheese Education Foundation
American Gateways
Annunciation House
Austin Parks Foundation
Austin Independent School District
Austin Education Fund
Austin Film Society
Austin Pets Alive!
Austin Sunshine Camps
Barton Springs Conservancy
Black Home Birth Matters ATX
Black Mamas ATX
Breakthrough Austin
Candlelight Ranch
Cheese Culture Coalition
Cheeseletes
Christi Center
Club 101
Colorado River Alliance
Vermont Community Foundation Flood Relief
Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Fire Relief
Crowe's Nest Farm
Elisabet Ney Museum
Farmshare
Friends of the Children Austin
Girl Start
Hospice Austin
Human Rights Campaign
Illumine Choirs
James Beard Foundation
Latinitas
Les Dames d'Escoffier Austin
Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Moxie Ridge Farm
NAMI Central Texas
Partners for Education, Agriculture & Sustainability
Philanthropitch
River Place Elementary School
Sammy's House
St. Andrew's Fund
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
Thinkery
TreeFolks
Wine & Food Foundation
Young Men’s Business League
Young Women's Alliance
We are also proud (paying) members of the American Cheese Society, Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Independent Business Alliance, Austin LGBT Chamber, Good Food Foundation, Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce, Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, Oldways Cheese Coalition, and Slow Food USA.
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Our Mission: Do Good. Eat Good.
Core Principles:
Passion with Purpose.
Be a Juggernaut of Awesome.
Be True. To Ourselves. To Others.
Family First. Then Business.
Improve Every Day.
Just for laughs, here’s a quarantine video of John and me sharing what our mission and core principles mean to us.
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THANK YOU!
With gratitude,
Kendall (& John) Antonelli
