Tucked into a residential neighborhood in the small village of Theresa, Wis., Widmer’s Cheese Cellars’ combined headquarters and cheesemaking facility bears little resemblance to an industrial operation from the outside. In fact, the building looks much like an oversized version of the quaint old homes surrounding it.
But looks can be deceiving. Inside, skilled cheesemakers produce about 2,000 pounds a day of cheese in a 19,000-square-foot processing facility — combining old-world techniques with modern technology. The plant — opened 100 years ago in a pre-1900s structure — specializes in brick, cheddar, and colby cheeses, many of which have won awards (see the Processor Profile). It transforms approximately 30,000 pounds of milk into about 3,000 pounds of cheese each day.