Founder's Circle
You could call us control freaks. We make the cheese, age it, package it, and fulfill it. Little is automated. It's the only way we can make sure everything meets our standards. And it lets us tweak and improve every single day.
But to get there, we had to build our own factory.
We needed a brand new space. It had to be perfectly clean from day one, and we had to customize it for a product that doesn't exist anywhere else. Half the factory is made from fridge panels. They keep everything spotless, and many of the rooms are actual fridges. We installed them ourselves. Panel by panel. Forklift and bare hands.
We were also preparing for Shark Tank at the same time. So that's what it looked like. Fred and I are hauling panels in the middle of a Texas summer, drenched in sweat, running through our pitch between walls as they go up. It was some of the most grueling work I've ever done. And I've done a wide variety of things in my life.
The Shark Tank producers would periodically ask us to record our pitch and send it in. Every single time, we looked beat and dirty from a full day of factory building.
They'd write back and tell us we needed to be more energetic. Then, shockingly, they'd move us to the next phase anyway.
I never thought we'd make it on the show. We could only practice while building. Our audition tapes looked like construction site footage. But we kept going.
We opened the factory months before the episode aired. That timing is the only reason we survived what came next. After Shark Tank, our e-commerce exploded. If we hadn't built it ourselves, on our own timeline, we wouldn't have been ready.
Every wall, every ceiling, every floor. It's ours. And when something breaks, we know exactly how to fix it, because we put it there.
Here's to building things the hard way,
Kirsten
Co-founder, Rebel Cheese
P.S. Our Mother's Day boxes are now on sale, and they are my favorite yet. Perfect for brunching, gathering, picnics, spreads, all my favorite things.
