Idea to reality: Alise Sjostrom had dreamed of owning a creamery since high school. In the spring of 2014, she and husband Lucas began production at their artisan cheese making plant in Brooten, Minnesota.
AURI’s role: AURI provided cost-share assistance for scale-up and product development, pre-engineering related costs, and product analysis and nutritional fact labels. AURI also served as a resource for other needs as they arose, such as calibrating of their thermometers and boiler-related questions.
Outcomes: Redhead Creamery, named after the predominant hair color of Alise and her sisters, will turn out 60,000 pounds of cheese a year, a combination of fresh cheddar cheese curds and aged cheddar cheese.