Zingerman’s Creamery was founded in 2001 by three managing partners: Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw, co-founders of Zingerman’s, and John Loomis who is the head cheesemaker. The goal was to produce the best hand-crafted cheese using traditional methods and high quality local milk. Loomis works Calder Dairy in Carleton, MI for the cow milk and Green Meadow Dairy in Conklin, MI for their goat milk. Loomis and his brother Bill started a cheese company back in 1989, about 20 miles outside of Ann Arbor in Manchester, MI. They were pioneers in the artisan cheese movement, but the creamery seems to have been an idea just slightly ahead of its time. The brothers shuttered their doors in 1994 in search of more financially stable jobs. John then worked at Zingerman’s Deli as their lead cheesemonger for about five years before opening the Creamery with partners Ari and Paul. The Creamery makes a robust line of cheeses from simple fresh chevre to mold ripened softies, and even some aged Cheshire style wheels.
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