Call him the accidental kosher cheesemaker.
Michael Schwarz was practicing intellectual-property law in New York City when a career change started nagging. “I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” he said. “And I started looking around for something that would take my fancy.”
His revelation came in an unlikely venue – the supermarket. “At the time, I was vegan. I couldn’t find good cheese anywhere,” he said. “And I realized there was an opening in the market that was a good opportunity to do something I believe in”
Five years and hundreds of home-kitchen experiments later, Schwarz sits atop a vegan cheese empire. Treeline Cheese, his Kingston, NY company, sells luscious cashew-based cheeses through more than 1,000 retail outlets nationwide, including giants Whole Foods and Kroger. More than 15 people work in Treeline’s Kingston, NY factory.
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