Virtual tastings have become a valuable tool for cheese sellers during the past year and a half, as producers and retailers sought to promote their products through new channels and attract new customers.
“What is the future of virtual events? It is just a passing phase brought on by passing circumstances, or is this form of education and edu-tainment here to stay?” asked Laura Werlin, moderator of a panel last week at the American Cheese Society 2021 Annual Conference. “The answer is a preliminary ‘yes.’ Virtual tastings are here to stay in some form from now on, but possibly just for some.”
Panelists said virtual tastings can help expand the customer base of both cheesemakers and retailers, but at the same time they can consume valuable time and resources.
Werlin, an author and cheese expert, jumped into the virtual tasting arena soon after the pandemic began. She partnered with iGourmet and Janet Fletcher, who publishes the Planet Cheese newsletter, for a series of virtual wine-and-cheese tasting sessions starting in May of last year and dubbed “Cheese O’Clock.”
Werlin said that interest in the virtual events has waned somewhat, after nearly 400 attendees signed up for the first event last year, but she and many others in the cheese industry have learned that virtual events can play a valuable role in their operations going forward.
Among the benefits of virtual cheese tastings cited by Werlin and other panelists is the ability to reach consumers who might otherwise not attend in-person events. During the height of the pandemic, that included almost everyone, but even as businesses open up and restrictions on gatherings loosen, many consumers prefer to attend events from the comfort of their homes.
Werlin relayed the story of Randall Felts, owner of Beautiful Rind, a specialty cheese store in Chicago that opened, literally, the day before Illinois went into lockdown last year.
Felts began conducting virtual tasting events during the pandemic, and has since decided to continue offering hybrid virtual and in-person events.
“We are all about cheese being a comfort food, and people enjoying it wherever they like,” Felts told Werlin.
People may choose to attend tastings or education sessions virtually for a variety of reasons, he said. They may have to care for children at home, or they may have social anxiety or health conditions that prevent them form participating in in-person events.
Kendall Antonelli, who owns Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Austin, Texas, with her husband, John, agreed, saying that virtual events “make tasting more inclusive.”
Antonelli’s Cheese Shop went all-in on virtual events during the pandemic, conducting online presentations featuring local cheesemakers from around Texas seven days per week, often with four or five events taking place at the same time. More than 15,000 people attended the retailer’s tastings in 2020, said Antonelli, who was one of the panelists in the presentation.
The retailer decided at the start of the pandemic that it would do anything in its power to keep its workers employed and to support local Texas cheesemakers. Virtual tastings turned out to be the solution, and the retailer was able to conduct dozens for corporate clients such as tech giant Dell, based in its home market of Austin.
Antonelli’s Cheese Shop has since cut back significantly on its virtual events as consumers in Texas have embraced their freedom to venture out and socialize at in-person events. The retailer plans to continue staging the virtual tastings at least once per month, however, Antonelli said.
“We want to continue offering them, whether there are six people or 100,” she said.
In addition to reaching more consumers and driving sales, panelists also pointed out that virtual tastings, if recorded, can be used to provide training for retail staff.
The panelists cautioned, however, that staging virtual tastings can present significant challenges, particularly when it comes to shipping cheese samples out to participants.
Felts of Beautiful Rind, for example, now only hosts virtual tastings for consumers in the Chicago area, because shipping cheeses to other markets became too complicated and costly, according to Werlin.
Sue Miller, whose family runs Birchrun Hills Farm in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, suggested that anyone hosting virtual tastings who is not familiar with the logistics involved with shipping cheese directly to consumers should spend a significant amount of time studying the process. Miller said the cheesemaker encountered several challenges getting products shipped on time and intact to virtual tasting participants, and ended up using a more costly expedited shipping service to ensure that the products would arrive at the right temperature.
“We learned a lot about packaging and shipping from the school of hard knocks,” she said.
Miller said she ended up having Fed Ex and UPS bid against each other in order to get the best rates on shipping cheeses to participants for the virtual tastings.
Like Antonelli’s, Birchrun Hills Farm has enjoyed success conducting virtual tastings for corporate clients that often sponsor them for employees. Large companies often like to show support for local producers, Miller said, and providing virtual cheese tastings can be one way for them to demonstrate that.
“These big corporations can’t provide what we are able to offer — a small, family-type, intimate experience,” she said.
When the pandemic first hit, Birchrun Hills Farm, which Miller estimated had been producing about 70 percent of its cheeses for restaurants, was desperate to find ways to sell its product as its customers closed their doors. It offered some cheeses to local retailers, and then launched its efforts with corporate clients. After being mentioned in a couple of articles about virtual tastings in local publications, the corporate business took off, Miller said.
One of the keys to success with virtual events, panelists said, is to remember that even though the participants may be miles away from you, it is still an intimate, personal experience.
At Birchrun Hills Farm, the company conducts its virtual events with the cheese production area in the background, so participants can often see the action taking place.
“It’s about bringing people into your world, and sharing your personality,” Miller said.
Panelists also stressed the importance of being well-prepared and having the right technology, including high-speed internet, a good webcam, and good lighting. Consumers have seen plenty of video conferences and virtual presentations during the past year, and the bar has been raised for the quality of these events.
“It does pay to buy better equipment,” said Michael Landis, who teaches beer, wine, cheese and food pairings, and was also on the panel.
He has been creating videos of cheese producers telling their stories to help them connect with retail buyers.
“There are some amazing stories that cheesemakers have to tell,” he said.
Related: Cheese Focus: Demystifying Marinated Cheese; Cheese Focus: Pivots With Staying Power.