Allison Hooper and Bob Reese

A night in 1984 changed the lives of Allison Hooper and Bob Reese, co-founders of Vermont Creamery, revered for goat cheese, cultured butter, and creme fraiche. An Austrian chef, Anton Flory, planned to showcase his signature lamb stuffed with rosemary and goat cheese at an event. American goat cheese didn't exist so Reese asked Hooper if she could make 10 pounds of it. She could.

For nearly four decades they created demand, one chef at a time. And won scores of sofi and American Cheese Society Awards. In 2018, they sold Vermont Creamery to Land O'Lakes for an undisclosed sum