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OCG Show Daily Sunday, June 4, 2017 1 8 CUTTING THE CHEESE IN THE BIG D By Lorrie Baumann Texas is known for many things – cheese really isn't one of them. Rich Rogers, the co-Owner and Proprietor of Scardello Artisan Cheese, is out to change that. "Texas has always been known for cattle and really wonderful farms and ranch land," he says. "There are really wonder- ful cheeses made here.... We get the ques- tion a lot about whether we make cheese in Texas. We do, and we make great cheese." Rogers opened Scardello in 2008 after a career as a filmmaker that taught him the value of storytelling, a skill that still stands him in good stead today. "One of the things I like about being a cheesemonger – which is the greatest job in the world – is that you get to tell better stories," he says. "You get to tell stories about how they started, stories about the farm, stories about the process. That's one of the reasons I love to visit producers when I can. I encourage my staff to do the same thing – to have those experiences and be able to tell stories first-hand about being there and watch- ing it happen." Even though his first career aspira- tions lay elsewhere, Rogers had always loved food and cooking, and his love affair with cheese blossomed after he took a class in New York with some of the people who are his cheese heroes today. He came home from that class and broke the news to his wife that he want- ed to open a cheese shop. He was met, he says, with That Look. "Then she came on board. And now she loves it," he says. Scardello Artisan Cheese, named after Rogers' grandfather who gave Rogers a love of cooking and the convic- tion that food is something to share, now operates in two locations in the Dallas metropolitan area – a 1,600-square foot flagship store in Oak Lawn, one of the wealthier of the city's neighborhoods, with a population that's heavily urban professional, and a newer one that opened last January at the Dallas Farmers Market, a food hub in the heart of down- town with a 26,000-square-foot food hall and artisanal vendor market that houses four anchor restaurants along with a vari- ety of specialty food providers. Scardello employs 14 people between the two loca- tions, with almost everyone on staff working in both stores. "There are only a couple of my staff members who are at one place," Rogers says. "We want the crossover so that we can be sure that we're delivering the same great service at each location. I've found that's helpful in that process." Although it was tough getting the business started in the 2008 depths of the Great Recession, Scardello is benefiting today from the blossoming of Dallas' culinary scene even though the business depends far more heavily on retail sales to consumers than to foodservice sales to local chefs. "We do sell to a handful of chefs. It's one of those things where it has to be the right fit," Rogers says. "Even the ones where we don't work together, we're at food events together and do collaborative events, benefits. It's been a wonderful part of this journey to be a small part of that." Both Scardello stores specialize in domestic cheeses, with a selection of locally-made products. Oak Lawn has about 150 cheeses in the case at any given time – about two thirds of them domestic – while the farmers market store offers about 95 with only about five of them European. "It's hard to have a cheese counter without Parmigiano- Reggiano," Rogers says. "But in the spir- it of the market, we want to focus more on local and domestic cheeses here." "Over the past eight years, there have been more than 1,000 cheeses in and out," he adds. "We're always trying to find new stuff." Dallas' turophiles are particularly fond of the creamy and gooey cheeses, Rogers says. "We sell a boatload of triple cream and brie-style cheeses," he says. "The most popular for the last year at Oak Lawn has been a goat Gouda called Brabander. If you'd told me in 2008 that our most popular cheese would be a goat Gouda from Holland, I would not have believed you, but it has been." Rogers himself is particularly fond of the stinky cheeses. "I'm really into Good Thunder, an amazing washed-rind cheese from Minnesota," he says. "The other one would be Seven Sisters from The Farm at Doe Run. It's a really easy- going mild cow's milk cheese, but after you take that first bite, it really opens up into complexity. A great snacking cheese." For those of his customers who are just venturing into the world of artisanal cheeses and aren't yet sure what they like, Scardello offers a range of classes as well as the more casual interactions between cheesemonger and customer that happen in his shops every day. "We want to make them feel at ease. We want them to feel like they've had a great experience, that we're excited that they're there. Cheese can be quite intim- idating, and that's the last thing we want," he says. "We are nothing but detectives. We are trying to find out what someone's palate is into, and that's a fun part of the process.... A lot of people who come into the store for the first time now have a better understanding of cheese and know a little more what they like. That's one thing they get out of the classes, which put cheeses in front of people that they might not have tried for them- selves.... Being a cheesemonger is the best job in the world. Even when you hand them a stinky cheese, and they get that squinchy face, it's still a great gig." SIMPLE MILLS CEO NAMED TO FORBES 30 UNDER 30 LIST Katlin Smith, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chicago-based Simple Mills, has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017, a highly respected roster of the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers in the U.S. Smith is at the forefront of the clean food movement with a line of natural baking mixes, crack- ers and frostings that are free of gluten, grain, dairy, soy, GMOs, excessive sugar, and artificial flavors and fillers. Smith began developing her first baking mixes in 2012 while she was working as a Deloitte Consulting man- agement consultant. Inspired by her own health improvements after switching to a whole foods diet without gluten and other irritants, she launched the company on Amazon in early 2013 with three mixes utilizing ingredients like almond flour and coconut sugar. She secured her first brick-and-mortar distribution agreement a few months later. Today, less than four years after hitting store shelves and nine months after adding crackers to the lineup, Simple Mills' natural channel market share surpasses that of most competitive brands, including much older companies with larger product portfolios. It is the No. 1 fastest-growing natu- ral baking mix and cracker brand, the No. 2 natural baking mix brand by dollars sold and the No. 3 natural cracker brand by dollar volume. "It's a new day in the food industry. Even older 'natural' foods are no longer natural enough because of consumer con- cerns about the explosion in food allergies, excessive use of sugar, genetically modi- fied organisms, and health problems that may be caused by additives, preservatives and chemicals that are used even in natural products," Smith said. "Addressing these trends requires literally creating recipes from scratch with alternative ingredients and formulations that have never been used before. It's challenging, but it's paying off in sales, in recogni- tions like this one from Forbes, and – most importantly – in supporting consumers in their quest for healthier foods." Simple Mills products have won multiple awards for natural foods innova- tion and recently earned accolades as one of the top five trending foods on popular grocery delivery service Instacart. The company currently has distribution in more than 6,500 conventional and natural grocery stores from Whole Foods to Target, and launched two new product lines in February. JESSICA'S BRICK OVEN BAKERY: EVERYDAY ARTISAN BREAD By Nicholas Boghos, Director of Sales and Marketing Jessica's Brick Oven Bakery, JBO, is a producer of artisan breads specializing in sliced Tuscan breads, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl and Focaccia breads for in-store bakeries. JBO also makes a huge variety of other artisan breads and batter-based tea breads such as Banana Walnut. JBO distributes artisan breads for fresh and frozen programs across the U.S. with a heavy concentration in the Northeast. Producing artisan breads and distrib- uting across the nation is a huge chal- lenge. Artisan, old-world breads require a great amount of time and attention to ensure that the finished breads are of very high quality. Ambient temperatures, water temperatures, mixing processes, fermenting or proofing temperature and humidity, and the ability to replicate the process day in and day out all play key roles in creating better breads. Artisan breads are breads that are fermented slowly and allowed to rest for long periods the old fashioned way in order to develop its cell structure and fla- vors. JBO uses very simple but high quality ingredients and follows a strict process that cannot be rushed, taking over 24 hours to make a single batch from start to finish. The bread is also made in small batches, relatively speak- ing. The result is an extremely flavorful bread with open cell structure and great texture. Something unique about JBO is that we are slicing the hearth baked or free form Tuscan Breads on a large scale. These breads, whether delivered to in-store bak- eries fresh or frozen, offer consumers a huge step up from the bread aisle. How exactly does one keep a product artisan when it's frozen and shipped? You can freeze a commercial bread and when it defrosts it is still a commer- cial bread that was made with high speed containing ingredients that are not found in artisan breads (compare labels). The same goes for an artisan bread; it is all about how the bread is made and what it is made of, not if it is fresh or freshly frozen and thawed. Our breads freeze and defrost very well, which is the reason we are experiencing a huge amount of growth in fully baked, labeled and frozen artisan breads that are slacked out of a freezer at store level, allowed to rest for a short period of time and then put out in the in-store bakery. This saves a lot of labor for the stores, reduces shrink and gets the consumer great tasting bread that has a simple list of high quality ingredients. No one wants to eat foods with "bad for you" ingredients on an everyday basis. Just think, do you want to pack your child a sandwich for lunch every day on bread that is very high in sugar, preservatives and artificial flavors? Would you make yourself avocado toast on white bread made with bleached flour and sugars such as corn syrup as main ingredients? Never mind the preserva- tives that prevent the bread from spoiling for many days or even weeks. Visit Jessica's Brick Oven Bakery at booth #1374 or go to www.jessicas brickoven.com.