Oak Creek-based
Alpinage Cheese will nearly triple its production capacity as the company shifts some operations to a warehouse space in Racine County.
Alpinage Cheese was founded in 2019 by
Orphee Paillotin, a native of France. He moved to Wisconsin in 2015 after meeting his partner, Paula. She is a sixth-generation dairy farmer from the Sheboygan area.
Paillotin earned his cheesemaker license in 2019 and in 2020 the duo moved into their current Oak Creek facility at 8625 S. Market Place. The Oak Creek location is approximately 700 square feet.
The company’s new location at 1510 S. Sylvania Ave. in Racine County is more than 2,000 square feet. It includes a shipping dock, a key element the business lacked before.
"Now, we can actually work with larger distributors who are going to the West Coast or East Coast," said Paillotin.
He expects the additional space will allow him to triple production to more than 60,000 pounds of cheese per year.
When Alpinage Cheese launched in 2019, the company produced 5,000 pounds of cheese. This year, the company will reach close to 25,000 pounds.
"It's really hard because our space is very small," he said. "We were trying to use the space as much as we could, but now it's too much."
The company plans to keep its Oak Creek location for now and consolidate most operations into the Racine County warehouse.
The new space will be used for storage, cutting and packaging of the company’s cheese wheels. There will also be allocated office space.
DATCP is providing $48,000 for Alpinage Cheese to hire and train a full-time staff leader who will manage the new facility.
"Right now, we're doing a lot of stuff by ourselves because we would love to pay ourselves one day," he said. “We are looking to hire another person.”
Alpinage Cheese specializes in European-style Raclette cheese. The company does not use milk to make its own cheese, but sources it from a creamery in Kewaunee.
The cheese is then aged by Alpinage for three months using a unique method called affinage. Paillotin washes most of the cheese wheels daily. Then, the wheels go through an open-air aging process. This creates a rind around the cheese wheel.
Alpinage Cheese products can be found at the Milwaukee Public Market, Outpost Natural Foods, Sendik’s, The Village Cheese Shop in Wauwatosa, and all Metcalfe Market locations.
Nearly 80% of the cheese the company sells is shipped outside of Wisconsin to states including New York, Washington, California and Oregon.
"We're in Wisconsin and I think it's the best place to probably make cheese," said Paillotin."We're grateful and we're going to do our best to try to showcase what Wisconsin does."
