Looking to get into cheese? Daily Driver SF now hiring!

Daily Driver is hiring a Head Cheesemaker.  This position is for a talented, dependable, kind, creative and fun cheesemaker, who has prior experience in all aspects of cheesemaking and affinage. Come and work at San Francisco’s only cheesemaking facility! 

COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Daily Driver is an organic wood-fired bagel and dairy producer located in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. All dairy is made in-house and the milk  is sourced from Silva Family Dairy in West Marin. This organic, 7th generation Jersey cow dairy represents the heart of what we believe in at Daily Driver – producing consistently excellent products that nurture the land from which they come and the people that make and consume them. Daily Driver strives to be more than just a delicious bagel & cheese shop. We want to directly benefit CA farmers by transforming their wonderful products into addictively delicious and nutritious food for San Franciscans. 

JOB DESCRIPTION

1. Follow established recipes & procedures to produce butter, cream cheese and jack independently and as a team. 
2. Develop new cheese recipes. 
3. Unmould and salt cheeses after they are produced, requiring the ability to lift 80 pounds and ability to hold 25lbs.
4. Manage inventory and ensure all wholesale and retail orders are filled in a timely fashion.
5. Experience using Quickbooks and Excel
6. Maintain stock of all items related (salt, labels, wrapping papers).
7. Maintain hygienic conditions in the creamery following the GMPs and the Food Safety/HACCP Plan. Considerable cleaning is required using a variety of strong acids, soaps and very hot water. 
8. Preference will be given to persons currently holding the required licenses/training 
   1. Limited Pasteurizers License
   2. General Sampler and Weighers License
   3. Industry Analyst and/or Industry Supervisor for Antibiotic Testing
9. Maintain accurate records as related to traceability and sanitation. Attention to detail is an important skill. 
10. Must be able and willing to repeatedly lift, turn, and maneuver in hot, humid and cold environments. Temperatures range from 39 F to 90 F. 
11. Work will be almost entirely standing.
12. Be caring, mindful and take pride in your work.
13. Enjoy steady expectable days. 
14. Schedule make days and creamery staffing. 
15. Manage cream make and delivery by sister business, Tomales Farmstead Creamery staff.
16. Meet with the Daily Driver management and delivery team weekly
17. Respond to emails in a timely manner 
18. Train and manage Assistant Cheesemaker and oversee product wrapping by other Daily Driver staff
19. We like people who are first and foremost kind, as well as have a good sense of humor, are obsessed with cheese (especially ours) humble, and did we say kind?! 

INCLUDES:

1.   2 weeks paid vacation a year

2.   Health and Dental insurance after 60 days

3.   Pay for cheese conferences

4.   Pay for CACG and ACS memberships

5.   Pay 55k-60k DOE 

Workdays: Average workday is 8 hours with 30 minutes for lunch. Some days are longer and some shorter, with an average of 40 hours/week. Days off to be determined, and flexibility with scheduling. Qualifications/Requirements: 

1. 2 years prior Cheesemaking  experience.
2. Bending, twisting and lifting up to 80 pounds repeatedly throughout the shift.
3. Perform simple mathematical calculations.
4. Maintain accurate records. 

To apply, send email & resume to tamara@dailydriver.com.

Thank you California Artisan Cheese Guild!

Meet Pedrozo Dairy, a small family run farmstead cheesemaker.

Pedrozo Dairy & Cheese Co. started a little more than 20 years ago in Orland, with their raw milk cheese made from their tiny herd of around 20 cows of various, little known breeds, which graze in the fields between their house, the barn and the creamery. This place is special. 

Northern Gold is a semi firm, rich and creamy cow’s milk cheese.

Black Butte Reserve is a cheese only made in the spring and is aged for 6 months. A robust cheese with sharp and grassy flavors

They also have feta, peppercorn, garlic & herb and sweet italian red pepper flavored cheese.

Reach out to Tim, Jill, Tom or Laura to learn more about their cheese and farm! Or visit them on Raw Milk Cheese Day or at when the Sierra Oro Farm Trail is open.

https://www.realfarmsteadcheese.com/
Photo: RoccoPhotography.com

Sue Conley and Peggy Smith, who together started and founded Cowgirl Creamery in 1997, are retiring.

These two wonderful women not only pioneered the resurgence of artisan cheese, but changed the face of West Marin agriculture by promoting the idea that chefs showcase local farm products.

Forever grateful for what they’ve done, including bringing us those iconic cheeses like MT TAM and Red Hawk. They will continue their good works through various nonprofits.

Thank you for all that you have done!

Visit this father and daughter cheese maker tandem in Escalon in California’s Central Valley

Rick and daughter, Anastasia Stuyt, are the cheese makers.

Only a small percentage of the milk produced on the dairy is used to make an Artisanal Farmstead Raw Milk Cheese. Their cheese is best described as a Dutch cheese, which is handmade from their farm’s raw cow milk.

Stuyt cheese is aged a minimum of 60 days; yet, preferred 90 days, for the best flavor.

🧀 Pictured here are:

1) El Capitan, a fully aged raw cow’s milk Spanish style cheese.

2) Diamond Reserve, a raw cow’s milk gouda style cheese aged over 9 months.

3) Mild raw cow’s milk gouda aged 2-4 months.

Visit their shop daily or order online! Yum! Support your local cheese maker!

📷 @deniseroccophotography

Here’s a little interview with Joe Matos Cheese by Anita Anderson of Discover Sonoma County Living

Joe Matos Cheese Bio

Joe and Mary Matos, 5th generation Portuguese cheesemakers, immigrated to the United States from the lush volcanic island of Sao Jorge, Azores in the 60’s and started making their family recipe for a cheese native to their homeland, St. Jorge in 1979 on their farm in the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

Today, the 7th generation of the Matos family is honored to continue the tradition of organic pasture- based biodynamic farming, milking our herd of 35 Holstein, Jersey and crossbred dairy cows, utilizing food waste diversion, raising all of our beef on our farm and hand making our Portuguese family’s raw milk farmstead St. Jorge cheese daily.

Discover Sonoma County Living

Currently owned and operated by 4th generation Mateo Fiscalini family members. Learn more about this Modesto based farmstead cheese maker in their video!

Their signature cheeses include a 14 month aged wrapped in cheesecloth Old World Aged Cheddar, a swiss alpine style cheese named Lionza and an Italian style semi-hard, raw cow’s milk cheese named San Joaquin Gold.

Visit Fiscalini Farmstead and order today!

The California Artisan Cheese Guild is pleased to announce the recipient of the 4th annual Jennifer Bice Artisan Dairy/Cheesemaker Grant Award. Nicolette Grill, owner of Mojave Gold Inc., a small goat dairy located in the high desert of Southern California, has been chosen from numerous CACG member applicants. Grill established Mojave Gold Inc.

In 2014 along the Mojave River, halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and milks 30 dairy goats on twenty-five acres of green pasture in the Mojave Desert. On her small-scale goat diary, she makes artisan goat cheese, goat’s milk caramel, USDA whey-fed heritage pork and USDA pasture-raised lamb.

This is the fourth annual grant award of $10,000 that Jennifer Bice, Founder of Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery, has so generously offered as a means to support and mentor newer cheesemakers and dairy farmers in California.

Bice helped establish the California Artisan Cheese Guild in 2006 and served as a founding board member. The grant award stipulates that the recipient be a CACG member, and that funds be used for creamery or farm infrastructure, or for education that relates to improving farming or business practices.