Virtual Tastings: Smile for the Camera and say Cheese!
Virtual Class photo credit Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
In 2020, that old cliché took on a new meaning for entrepreneurial cheesemongers and makers nationwide who, faced with the pandemic’s unprecedented hit to business, did a quick pivot and introduced a new service: Online cheese tastings and classes.
To the delight of some of these impromptu video producers, what started as a makeshift effort to help keep afloat in hard times has quickly proven itself to be a viable new revenue stream. While some virtual events have been ticketed and open to the public, the most lucrative opportunity has proven to be private events, with “student bodies” ranging from small groups of 15 friends and family members to corporate celebrations with hundreds Zoomed in from dozens of locations.
“Our first virtual class was the third week of March,” notes Kendall Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Austin, Texas. By early December, “we’d had over 14,000 participants.” Brad Hedeman, who oversees the mail-order operations at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which recently started to offer virtual tastings says “This is something that’s emerged during the pandemic that is not going to go away. Customers love it.”
Surprising sales
Gouda. Photo credits to Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese
Jill Giacomini Basch of Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese in Northern California says that a shockingly successful first foray into the virtual world with a Mother’s Day event last May provided an inkling of the earnings potential of well-organized and executed online cheese gatherings. “We promoted online and shipped out a special gift pack with four cheeses and accompaniments, along a shopping list and prep list. Everyone who ordered got exclusive access to a Zoom class where we demonstrated recipes using the cheese and other ingredients. Some customers ordered two packages—one for their mom and one for themselves, so they could have a together/apart experience with the class.”
Cheese set up. Photo credits to CheeseGrotto
With a price tag of $120 for the gift package, including shipping and the online class, Basch describes that first event as “wildly successful” with more than 160 participants. After similar promotions themed around Father’s Day and Fourth of July, her team gradually ramped up its event schedule to a peak of 2-3 open-to-the-public events and 6-8 private online tastings a week between October and December. For each private event, the organizing customer must commit to a minimum of 15 participants. Likewise, Jessica Sennett whose upstate New York-based Cheese Grotto has previously focused on manufacturing and selling their proprietary home cheese storage units says that her company’s revenue doubled in 2020 with 50% of the growth generated by the virtual tastings she began offering in June. “It’s been an interesting silver lining for us.” Says Sennett. “Our wooden grottoes require a certain amount of education about cheese to begin with, so virtual tastings and classes have provided a great new way to get our product line out in front of people.”
And at the San Francisco Cheese School, where new owner Jeanine Egan took over in September, unexpected demand for virtual tastings from corporate clients who had previously held on-site tastings at the school for holiday celebrations and team building events has led to a major re-think about future business plans. “Before COVID,” says Egan, “all of our classes took place here. We have a fantastic setting with gorgeous views of the Bay, but our set-up only allowed for a max of 40 participants at an event. This fall and holiday season, we were regularly hosting online events with up to 100 people and even did one how-to-build cheese platter class for 1200.” She adds,“So now I’ve decided to invest in turning part of our space into a professional studio. As we’ve been developing classes over the past few months, I’ve had AV guys in to help me figure out how to use multiple cameras and what angles are best for different shots. I’d like to grow these classes into a worldwide cheese education resource.”
Synergy and geography
While her team is sticking with a simple laptop tech set-up and an ad hoc studio in a former conference room, Basch at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese also points to the geographic reach and educational value of virtual events as a boon for business. “We’ve had an on-farm culinary and education center called The Fork since 2010. Our mission has always been very learning and teaching oriented: People who come to the farm learn about land stewardship and animal husbandry as well as cheese itself. So, during the pandemic, we wanted to replicate as much of that experience as possible. So now we’ve put a series of short videos that take you through our farm tour online, which anyone can access for free, whether they pay for a class or not. Ultimately, I hope some of the people who watch will order from us or buy our cheese at their local shops.”
To the latter end, Point Reyes has partnered with some of their wholesale customers, co-producing online tastings with the famed Commander’s Palace restaurant in New Orleans and the Mollie Stone’s supermarkets in the Bay Area. “Bringing chefs and retailers out to our farm has always been an important part of our trade relationships,” says Basch. “We can’t do that during the pandemic, but these virtual events have been a great way to help maintain those relationships and also get us great exposure to our customers’ customers.”
“By doing online pairing events with wine partners,” notes Cheese Grotto’s Sennett, “Their online customers and people on the winery’s email lists learn about our products—sometimes it’s the first time they’ve ever heard of us.”
Pedagogy and pro-tips
Virtual set up. Photo credit Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
A knack for teaching comes naturally to many cheese mongers who enjoy engaging with customers and sharing their knowledge in the retail setting. “In some ways,” says Egan of the San Francisco Cheese School, “In some ways it’s easier to teach people over Zoom than in person. Participants tend to be more focused on the instructor and less inclined to speak over each other.”
That said, Kendall Antonelli emphasizes that online tastings should “never be over an hour…. folks are tired of screen time and talking heads.” She says it’s critical that participants spend as little time as possible “just watching you.” Other virtual producers agree: The experiential nature of an online cheese event is key; audiences need to be tasting or cutting or otherwise doing for as much of the allotted time as possible.
When working with larger groups, Antonelli and other experienced instructors strongly recommend having a second cheese pro online throughout the event to field and answer questions in the comments section of the virtual interface in real time, in parallel with the on-camera instructor’s direct address to the entire audience.
With groups of more than 15, it may also be wise to mute viewers’ microphones until a specific question-and-answer period of the program. Cheese Grotto’s Sennett says that using online quiz and poll software during events has proved an easy way to create a sense of engagement even when microphones are off.
When groups are relatively small, some instructors prefer that everyone’s microphone stay on throughout, helping to make their events feel festive and social as well as educational. They also recommend reserving extra post-class time on videoconferencing services to allow participants to socialize after class. (Antonelli‘s shop also features non-interactive, on-demand “Cheese Class in A Box” offerings with access to a pre-recorded instructional video).
The most time and labor-intensive aspect of producing virtual cheese tastings and classes is the careful packing and shipping of products to participants. It can also be the most expensive element of overhead cost. Promotion needs to emphasize enrollment deadlines that allow cheese to arrive at participants’ homes in time for online events. Cutting, wrapping, and cold-packing cheese for a virtual gathering of hundreds mean planning to have extra hands on deck for shipping day.
In the name of transparency, some event producers opt to itemize shipping charges in their promotions and solicitations, while others keep things simpler by folding products, shipping, and the virtual event into a single, bundled price tag without explanatory breakdown.
Since shipping can easily drive a consumer’s cost over $100, some entrepreneurs have already begun to experiment: In Austin, Antonelli has had surprising success with online classes for local customers who pick up pre-packed cheese selections curbside at his shop. And the Cheese School’s Egan is planning to eventually offer what she calls ‘shopping events’ in addition to today’s status quo ‘shipping events.’ Adding, “Some people really enjoy going to the store and buying their cheese for themselves. I’d still like to post a shopping list online and offer them a class or guided tasting for maybe $35 or $40.”
It all comes down to whether consumers are able to recognize the true value of cheese professionals: They don’t just sell cheese, they sell expertise.