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GourmET nEWS oCTobEr 2016 www.gourmetnews.com rETAilEr nEWS 1 3 Cheese+Provisions Continued from PAGE 1 restaurant and then worked for many years in Washington, D.C. From there, he de- cided to pursue his love of controlled fer- mentation and ended up getting a job as the winemaker and general manager at a Virginia winery. He spent five years at the winery, with Kim acting as the part-time marketing director, until the winery's own- ers discovered the truth of the old saying that if you want to make a small fortune with a winery, the way to do that is to start with a big for- tune. By that time, Steve and Kim had had enough experi- ence of the country- side to know they wanted to stay on the land. "At one point, I said, 'If you wanted to do something of your own, what would it be?' He said, 'It's always been cheese,'" Kim tells the story. So, naturally, they bought a 25-acre farm and started a sheep dairy. "He turned me into a foodie very delib- erately over the years," the story continues. "My passion is the people and the animals. He comes to it through the food first, and I come to it through the farm and the ani- mals and what the people are doing." That part of the story ends just about the way you're already starting to suspect. "We were not good sheep farmers. It's just too difficult to take those cute lambs to slaugh- ter. And you really do need kids to make it work!" Kim said. They operated the sheep dairy into 2007, when they decided to get away from that hard, hard life for a while and take off for Nepal to celebrate Kim's 40th birthday with a hike to the Mount Everest Base Camp. The Himalayas have always been a place for spiritual reflection and self-discovery. What Steve and Kim discovered was that they wanted to stay near the mountains after they'd returned home to the U.S. So they moved to Colorado, to a fast- growing city where the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains rises out of the plains in a dra- matic backdrop to destiny, and Steve went to work at Whole Foods and then a few other local cheese shops. Kim kept the day job she's had for nearly 20 years running the communications department for a DC-based trade association, commuting back and forth be- tween DC and Denver, and together they waited until they thought that Denver's in- terest in artisanal cheeses was strong enough to support another cheese shop. "Denver's food culture has exploded, with new chefs coming into the city and the population growing at the rate of 1,000 new residents a month," Kim said. "The city is transforming pretty dramatically." They found a shop in a gentrifying neighborhood with a growing population of Millennials who share the foodie culture of their peers. "They feel that good food comes first," Kim said. "They might buy $30 worth of cheese when they're having trouble paying their rent." "The neighborhood itself is full of young families, but the shop pulls customers from all over the city. Word seems to have spread," Steve added. "The core d e m o g r a p h i c from the neigh- borhood is in the 30s, who are the a d v e n t u r o u s folks, plus the older people who have been fortu- nate enough to travel overseas." Cheese + Provisions' offering focuses on high-quality American cheeses and salumi as well as a careful selection of accompani- ments, with emphasis on locally produced products. Steve works in the shop with one full-time employee, while Kim keeps her day job, helps in the shop on weekends and evenings when special occasions are sched- uled and does the shop's marketing and newsletters. Steve does the cheese and sa- lumi buying, working directly with a num- ber of American artisan cheesemakers. Kim focuses on buying the dry goods. "I really like interacting with the dry goods producers," she said. "Once we started dig- ging into the Colorado products, we real- ized that we have an abundance of good food producers here in the state." Part of the shop's model is that customers can trust Steve's experience as a chef to guide them in selecting their cheese. "We focus on American artisan cheese. We also focus on telling the stories behind these cheeses. Being former cheesemakers our- selves, we understand the difficulty and the passion and dedication it takes. You cer- tainly don't do it for the money," Steve said. "We focus on American arti- san rather than Euro- pean. We want to showcase what America can really do these days. We're competitive with the best of European cheeses. We're not con- stricted by the DOP re- strictions of European cheeses. The philosophy is bringing in interesting cheeses that pique my interest and the in- terest of the public at large." Customers have responded enthusiasti- cally, allowing Steve to lead them toward bolder choices like washed rind and blue cheeses. "I like them to have a story, and something like a washed bloomy certainly has a story behind it. Rock Hill Creamery in Utah – the woman has six cows, and when she sends a wheel, it comes with a picture of the cow that made the milk," Steve said. "When I find a cheese like that, I pounce on it." "We're bringing cheeses into Colorado that have never been in Colorado before," Kim said. "We're trying to help cheesemak- ers be successful and to expose those who live in Denver to quality cheeses. It's a pas- sion of ours." GN

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