Why is Cheese So Expensive? | The Cheese Professor

Rogue River Blue on a plate — Rogue River Blue photo courtesy Rogue Creamery

Editor’s note: I’ll admit it, my budget for cheese has increased dramatically since 2020 when the Cheese Professor launched. Have I purchased Rogue River Blue for $50 a pound? I have. And I don’t regret it one bit. But it’s worth taking a closer look at why cheese costs what it does.

As a retailer I have often been asked “why is specialty and artisan cheese so expensive?” The question usually emerges when a customer is eyeballing a wheel or a wedge priced at $30 to $40 a pound. At a full-service counter I’m likely to answer, while offering a sample—“have you tasted it?” Or the conversation might include a comparison to what the customer would expect to pay for a great wine. There might also come the question of why a domestic farmstead cheese costs more than an excellent French import.

Anyone in the cheese business is likely acquainted with these questions and will likely have explanations ready as surely as they have clean, sharp knives behind the counter. My response usually touches on a few specific considerations:

Efficiency vs. craft
The costs of proper aging
Perceptions regarding price per-pound
The price/flavor ratio

There are other factors in play, so determining the price and value propositions for cheeses involves a pretty complicated matrix if one hopes to pursue it scientifically. We also need to keep in mind that taste is subjective, so one customer may find a particular cheese to be absolutely worth a higher price, while another may not taste the value.

Before diving further into these points, it is important to note that there is a spectrum of differences from one cheesemaking operation to another. And while a large-scale, automated operation can make perfectly good cheese, the best, most delicious cheeses generally come from smaller makers, and from makers who are able to start with the freshest high-quality milk.

The $200 wedge of Cheddar

Hook’s Cheese Company, Mineral Point, Wis., once made commodity cheese that was sold to wholesale buyers at a commodity price. Now the company produces a 20-year-aged cheddar that retails for $209 a pound.

“In 1994 we started selling at the Dane County Farmers market, and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board had started to promote artisan cheese, so the sales of our branded cheese really took off,” says Tony Hook, who founded the company with his wife Julie in 1976. “By the end of 2001 and early in 2002 we stopped making commodity cheese and selling it to the big guys, and we started only selling cheese with our name on it.”

The company’s strategy in the early aughts was influenced by a notion toward semi-retirement, with smaller production goals and an easier workload. But Hook’s now makes as much cheese as ever, and dollar sales are triple what they were while producing cheese for other brands.

Hook’s now makes a wide range of cheddars and blue cheeses that are all sold at a higher price than commodity brands of the same style. Its cheeses have won numerous awards, are sold in markets coast to coast, and are among the favorites of Midwest turophiles.

Julie and Tony Hook photo credit Hook's Cheese Company

“We get our milk from small farms, we expect high quality milk, and we pay a premium price for it,” Hook says. “Artisan makers like us are likely to use higher quality ingredients including starters and rennet.” And with a smaller staff there is less specialization, and that tends to cut into efficiencies, he says. One well-known maker from Vermont goes as far as to say that inefficiency might be considered an ingredient in excellent artisan cheese. Hook says the company must charge higher prices to stay profitable, and there is a clear understanding that customers are willing to pay more for a higher-quality product.

The 20-year Cheddar is an extreme example of how aging affects price—bills and sometimes rent must be paid while super-aged cheeses mature for decades. But to a lesser degree, any aging adds cost. Soft ripened cheeses are usually aged and fussed over (turned once or twice a day by hand) for a couple weeks to a couple of months. These are small pieces and each little wheel demands the same attention. Proper temperature and humidity levels must be maintained no matter the type of cheese. Producing larger Alpine or tome-style cheeses involves some efficiency advantages, but they too must be tended to at least weekly, and they are often aged for years rather than for weeks and months.

Hook also notes that identifying which batches of cheese that will reach optimum flavor at 12-20 years requires some trial and error, so that addition costs must be factored for those that do not make the cut.

Quality and value

While these concrete factors contribute to what is often perceived as high pricing for artisan and farmstead cheeses, sticker shock may sometimes have more to do with the sticker than the value of the cheese, says Helder dos Santos, sales manager at Zuercher Cheese, Niles, Ill.

“In essence, quality and craftsmanship just cost more. That’s why high-end things cost more, whether it’s cheese, or furniture, or cars,” dos Santos says. “When you look at cheese it’s usually sold on a pound price, and nobody is eating a pound. If you take the example of a cheese that is $24 a pound, now you are looking at $6 for a 4-oz piece. So, a snack might cost you four to five dollars, and compared to say a bag of potato chips, it’s a good value. The nice thing a about cheese—whether its artisan or mass produced—it’s a dense food, so even a small amount is very satisfying.”

Zuercher is a 100-year-old company that sells European and American cheeses to restaurants and retailers throughout the Midwest and in other parts of the U.S. The company’s portfolio includes a variety of products that roughly range in price from four dollars to $35 per pound wholesale, dos Santos says. Within that spectrum, there are wonderful cheeses available at a remarkably reasonable price. “If you look at French soft ripened cheeses, those are seven to ten dollars a pound but they are really well-made, they are delicious, and they are a great value.” At the higher end, there is value in a different way, he says.

“Neal’s Yard Dairy’s cheeses tend to be expensive. To me that’s over $25 a pound to the retailer, which puts it at $45 a pound to the consumer.” The farmstead Cheddars and other traditional UK cheeses aged and sold by Neal’s Yard are made by hand, and typically reflect generations-old traditions. Dos Santos notes that their complex flavors are different from the sharp notes consumers are most accustomed to in the U.S. Cheddars.

“The flavor is not sharp, it’s round. Your entire mouth gets that flavor,” he says. “If you give someone a sample at the counter, they are going to like it, and by the time they get to the car, that flavor is still in their mouth. That’s huge.”

Cost matters, tradition and story add value for serious cheese consumers, and in the end flavor speaks. The import-to-domestic comparison is another complicated math problem. Shipping costs add to the prices paid for imports, of course. But some European makers are subsidized by their governments, others achieve scale through consortiums, and we would assume that a five-year-old start-up in Tennessee might have more start-up debt than a 200-year-old farm in France. Scale and efficiency come into play with imports, as European cheeses are as likely to be made in factories as they are to be made by small-scale artisans. In the U.S., transporting cheeses from remote farm locations can also add costs to reach the consumer.

With the current issues surrounding tariffs, prices for imported cheeses could be affected, but dos-Santos points out that imports might still carry price points that are competitive with U.S. artisan cheese.