Cheesemakers get their reward at the World Championship
Partnerships built upon trust
Cheese Contest® Can you compete in cheese? Well, certainly. And the World Championship Cheese Contest®, which is hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, is a well-established biennial event. When cheese experts from all over the globe gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, to taste, smell and evaluate contest entries in March 2022, it was the 34th time the cheese producers of the world competed for the prestigious World Championship Cheese Contest medallions. These were awarded the proud winners at an awards banquet during CheeseExpo in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in April 2022.
This is a championship for cheese – not cheese equipment. So where does Tetra Pak come into the equation? Grant Nesheim, Category Manager for Mozzarella and Cheddar explains.
“This is all about the cheese and the people that make it: our customers. But we live through our customers and when they win, we are proud to, in a way, be a part of their success.”
And success, as they say, doesn’t happen overnight. A truism that very much applies to the fine art of cheesemaking.
“The awards may have been issued this year, but all of the work behind them started many years ago. And we have been there, literally for decades, listening to customers about their needs and their desires to make the best cheese. That has helped us create a portfolio that does exactly that. The fact that customers have chosen us, that they trust our solutions and Tetra Pak as a long-term partner, is because the equipment is designed to last many years. I think that says a lot about how we support and nurture the lifecycle of the equipment, and obviously also about the machine quality. Our customers are choosing the best. For me, it is a lot of things coming together to support the customer, and these sort of culminate in them winning an award.”
In other words, long-term trust is a foundation to build upon. However, Grant once again emphasizes that the awards go to cheesemakers – not to their suppliers or partners.
“Again, we're just proud to be associated with all the great cheesemakers of the world.”
"Over the last decade, 77% of all best-in-class awards in the mozzarella and cheddar categories have been achieved using equipment from the Tetra Pak portfolio."
