The Big Cheese: An American Aged Cheddar

Josh Gentine

Josh Gentine had zero interest in owning—or even working at—a cheese company. Growing up in Plymouth, Wis., he played hide-and-go-seek in his family’s cheese factory (Sargento, founded in 1953 by Gentine’s grandfather, Leonard Gentine). As a high-schooler, he worked part-time in the factory’s cutting room. But as the third generation of a cheese brand with household recognition, particularly for its packaged shredded, sliced, and snack cheeses, he sought out a career as an executive coach and talent advisor instead, working for Deloitte Consulting and now out on his own with Bench Consulting.

Care for a fine aged cheddar?

Then the phone rang. It was a family friend who owns a cold-storage facility. An allotment of 12- to 15-year aged cheddar, a rare find even in Wisconsin, was available. Did he want it? Even in Wisconsin, where the oldest cheddar sold at retail was aged 40 years, back in 2012, few cheddars are aged past 10 years. Hook’s Cheese Co. in Mineral Point, WI, sold its 20-year-aged cheddar in 2020, for $209 a pound. “When he sent us a sample, I loved it,” explains Gentine. Naming it The Big Cheese not only evokes playfulness and a sense of humor but it’s also the nickname his uncle earned after appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s show to talk about his volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. Marketing materials refer to the cheese as “sharp-as-sh*t.” “Maybe it’s a counterbalance to the time we’re in,” suggests Gentine. “Let’s enjoy ourselves.”

Trio of The Big Cheese aged cheddar

But not seriously, a big cheese

So far, it’s only available online and direct-to-consumer—in 2.5-, 5- and 40-pound blocks, $49-$499—and the name says it all: this is not a pretentious cheese. “We’re trying to think way out of the box in our approach to this. If I look at the experience of eating cheese, it’s around fun and not taking it too seriously,” he says. “This year we will begin to explore additional [distribution] channels. We’re [also] going to start building a portfolio of other cheeses.” Gentine should have no problem finding other cheeses to retail as Wisconsin cheesemakers craft more than 600 varieties, more than anywhere else in the world.

Cheese board with The Big Cheese

An ideal audience: cheese fans

Making the cheese online has, so far, attracted his ideal audience: cheese fans. “It’s the passionate cheese followers who will be looking for ‘the new stuff.’ That’s how you can reach them,” he says. For now, there are no plans to include the cheese on restaurant and bar menus unless the story can also be told in some way. Starting The Big Cheese meant finally honoring Gentine’s roots and realizing while he was playing hide-and-go seek he was also exposed—quite literally—to the inside workings of the cheese industry. “I am learning so much in the process of starting a cheese company despite being in the cheese business my entire life,” he says.

For those who peg The Big Cheese as a sibling or subsidiary of Sargento, and a continuing of the next generation, that’s not the case here. The companies are totally separate. “We’re not part of Sargento at all. We’re completely independent,” says Gentine. In fact, he says, “I sort of sprung this on my family.” For Gentine—who splits his time between Virginia and Wisconsin, and sits on Sargento’s board of directors—this isn’t his first food start-up. He launched two boutique-level food-and-drink companies in Wisconsin: PRESS cocktail sodas and cholive (olive-shaped chocolate-truffle cocktail garnishes)

“My core business is succession planning for family companies,” says Gentine, about his consulting business, where he often advises younger generations to go out on their own—as he did—before either returning to the company or launching one in the same industry. “I have definitely learned lessons from running start-ups,” says Gentine.