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Cheese, Amazon, $5 million in less than 2 years

A cheesemaker says disintermediation and e-commerce can help revitalize rural America.

“We started selling on Amazon 18-months ago and we now have more than a $5 million business with two items.”      

Owner of The Specialty Cheese Company Paul Scharfman says the rise of the internet, innovation, and Terroir, or the idea products taste differently based on where they’re produced, can support struggling rural economies.

“Rather than subside the farm, pull the product to market—establish consumer pull.”     

His company specializes in making cheese that’s baked into a crunchy granola bar.

“I’m a nice Jewish boy from Boston that moved to rural Wisconsin to manufacture Mexican cheese—what could go wrong?”

Working with the University of Wisconsin, Scharfman found about 10 percent of the population in Dodge County isn’t working but would like to, which he found to be a huge supply of untapped talent.“We found out, for the most part, it’s transportation, it’s childcare, it’s healthcare.”        

His company believes compassion works and feelings matter, in fact, it’s on his business card. “Feelings are sort of like flehm, sort of vaguely disgusting but everybody has them and when you talk about them, you can work with everybody.”         

Scharfman is also starting a private equity company to invest in other rural areas where light manufacturing can be established to create regional food products.