Jane Burns
food-tonyhookatfactory-05-01-2020
Tony Hook was considering a delay of the release of his 20-year-cheddar, but customers changed his mind.
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s clear there’s one thing, at least in Wisconsin, that will bring people joy: cheese. That’s what Tony Hook found out when he pondered delaying the release of Hook’s 20-year cheddar from its scheduled time of Memorial Day weekend. Turns out fans of the Mineral Point-made cheese weren’t having it.
“When I told Ken (Monteleone) at Fromagination we might delay it, he said, ‘Well, there are a lot of customers that were looking forward to something good coming up and they’ve been waiting for this,’” Hook recalls. “I talked to the owner at Larry’s Market (in Brown Deer) and he said the same thing. So did the distributors.”
So 20-year cheddar it is, just with a change in pickup plans and the opportunity for those who ordered it from Hook’s Cheese in advance to back out if they have to. Hook gets that a cheese retailing for $209 a pound might be a tough commitment for some people to honor right now if they ordered it in January.
“I certainly understand that,” Hook says. “If you are out of a job and you are trying to live on unemployment, the cheese is a little pricey.”
Starting May 21, customers can pick up their orders at the Hook’s Cheese factory in Mineral Point. Hook suggests calling or emailing about a week ahead to set up a pickup time, because the phones will be busy after the cheese is available.
Hook isn’t participating in the Dane County Farmers’ Market currently being held at the Alliant Center’s Willow Island, and so will hold the 20-year cheddar for customers who prefer to pick it up when the market returns to the Capitol Square. The company will not ship it.
Beyond the 20-year cheddar, Hook’s factory is running at full capacity, despite the lull created by the pandemic.
“We’re plugging along, hoping things will pick up sometime, but we don’t know when,” he says. “We’re taking all the milk we always have. We’re just storing more cheddar and a little bit more blue cheese because things aren’t moving like they were.”
Restaurants, where Hook’s Cheese is a popular choice for cheese boards and for topping burgers, in particular, are not buying. Many are either closed or doing curtailed takeout and delivery.
“The restaurants are the biggest part of most artisan sales,” Hook says. “They’re willing to pay for a good product. They love it and we love it, but there is sure a damper on it right now.”
The Hook’s factory store in Mineral Point does remain open for no-contact pickup and cheese is selling in grocery stores.
The sale of the 20-year cheddar will provide a welcome bit of cash flow to the company that has been in business since 1987. The five employees who make cheese (all members of the Hook family) are working, but two other employees have been furloughed.
The crew has been cutting the 20-year, getting it ready for packaging. Hook says that with some pre-orders potentially canceled, those on the waiting list may well move up.
“Someone who emailed said they were going to start spreading the rumor that 20-year cheddar is the cure for coronavirus,” Hook says. “It will make people feel better, but I don’t think it’s a cure.”
To get on a waiting list for Hook’s 20-year cheddar, email hookscheese@gmail.com or call 608-987-3259 and leave a message.
