If you’ve ever clicked on the cheese section on Foodzie, you are probably already familiar with Bravo Farms. They have all the drool inducing photos of their handmade, artisan cheeses. This week we have 7 Questions with Jonathan, one of the owners and expert cheese makers at Bravo Farms.

1) Why did you choose to start making artisan cheese?

I grew up on a dairy and went to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to get a degree in the cow side of Dairy Science. I was always fascinated with dairy products and began taking some classes on it, I ended up changing my major to Dairy Processing, and right after I graduated, I started building my cheese factory.

2) What’s your secret weapon for creating the best cheese?

The secret weapon is “handmade”. I worked at a large cheese factory before I started my own, and what’s amazing is you never even see the milk. It’s so automated, and along the way a few corners have to be cut to make the company profitable. The “old world” style of cheesemaking got lost along the way, and we brought it back.

3) Which flavor is your personal favorite and why?


The Silver Mountain Clothbound cheddar is my favorite. It’s a very labor intensive process of aging. The wheels are aged openly to allow select molds to grow on them. They have to be periodically cleaned to not allow too much mold to grow on them -There’s a certain amount of mold that you need. Then they are turned and rotated on a weekly basis. After 9 months of aging you have an awesome piece of cheese.

4) What is a unique way to enjoy one of your products?

My favorite way to enjoy the cheeses is simply with some crackers and pears or apples. Also, a little white cheddar with chocolate is pretty amazing.

5) Any new products or flavors in the works?

We’re working on a swiss style of cheese right now, we’ll let you know when we figure it out. The thing is, you have to age it a while to see how it does when it gets older, so it’s kind of a slow process.

6) What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started in the food business?

I have learned a lot in the 3 years that I have been in the food business. You need to start with a great product, something that stands out. Then you need to figure out how to make a lot of it to help keep the price down ($40 / lb cheese is hard to sell). But just making a lot of it doesn’t guarantee that your going to sell it, you need to get out there and tell people how good it is, and give them a chance to taste it. So in other words…. Good product + Affordable Pricing + Good Marketing = Sustainable business. Sounds simple, but sometimes you need to go back to the basics.

7) Which product on Foodzie makes you most hungry? We’ll chat with that producer next!

I’m interested in the bison jerky or the BBQ sauce, I was just traveling though Texas- had a lot of meat and BBQ!

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If you missed them, feel free to check out our previous interviews with Doc Popcorn and Seth Ellis Chocolatier.