Some people — including, most famously, Steve Jobs — say that it is better to focus on one thing and do it well. Off a nondescript state highway in east-central Wisconsin, Baker Cheese Inc. is proving the adage to be true. The 104-year-old cheese company produces over 200 SKUS (see Inside the Plant story), but all its product lines come down to one basic concept: quality low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella string cheese.
The St. Cloud, Wis.-based company — one of only a handful of string cheese processors in the United States — didn’t always focus its production on the snacking cheese. However, while the company has evolved over the past century, its ownership has stayed close to home. The present leaders are the fourth generation of Bakers to run the company, so it is easy to assume the current crop has been planning for this since they were children.