Arend Elston, owner and operator of Ann Arbor’s Zingerman’s Creamery, is working to uplift small dairy businesses and artisan cheese makers in Michigan as a co-founder of the Michigan Cheese and Dairy Guild. Elston and three other Michigan cheese artisans and retailers came together this year to form the guild to support the needs of other makers throughout the state.
“Not a lot of businesses are carrying local artisan-made cheese,” Elston says. “Michigan is a great agricultural state, but we don’t have many artisan cheese producers, and the few that are out there were trying to come together and collaborate as a team to promote our products as best we can.”
Elston says Zingerman’s Creamery is “excited to be a contributor” to the guild due to the creamery’s unique offerings in the artisan cheese market, as well as Zingerman’s well-established brand.
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